Network news
ETHEREUM’S NEW AI AGENT STANDARD: Ethereum developers are preparing to roll out ERC-8004, a new standard designed to help software agents find each other, prove who they are, and decide who to trust when operating across different systems. The proposal introduces a simple idea: if AI agents are to act, coordinate and perform tasks autonomously, they need persistent identities and a common way to build credibility – just like users, wallets or smart contracts do today. It comes as big companies race to deploy AI agents in-house. Most systems still rely on closed identity lists, API keys or bilateral trust agreements. It works in a company, but breaks down when agents have to coordinate across suppliers, chains or jurisdictions. ERC-8004 defines three lightweight registries that can live on the Ethereum mainnet or layer-2 network. The first is an identity registry, which assigns each agent a unique chain identifier using an ERC-721-like token. This identifier points to a registry file that describes what the agent does, how it can be reached, and what protocols it supports. Ownership of the identifier can be transferred, delegated, or updated, providing agents with portable, censorship-resistant identities. The second is a reputation registry where clients—human or machine—can submit structured feedback about an agent’s performance. The register stores raw signals in the chain while allowing more complex scoring and filtering to occur outside the chain. The goal is not to rank agents directly, but to make reputation data public and reusable across applications. The third is a validation registry, which lets agents request independent verification of their work. Validators may include staked services, machine learning credentials, trusted hardware, or other verification systems. These results are stored on the blockchain so other users can see what was checked and by whom. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.
SOLANA’S LATEST PHASE IS FOCUS ON BUILDING: Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-powered heights, and that may be the goal. Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview that the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. After years of experimentation where the broader crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back towards decentralized finance, commerce and payments. “People are really starting to think about blockchains as a new kind of financial infrastructure,” said Ferrante, who will speak at CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong conference next month. “It’s less about NFTs, less about random moonshot-like games, and a lot more about economics.” That shift has left Solana feeling dull to some outside observers, but Ferrante framed it as a sign of maturity. The network is increasingly positioning itself around high-throughput onchain trading, market structure and settlement, what some have dubbed “internet capital markets.” The turning point comes amid a sharp divide between crypto-sentiment and traditional finance. While crypto prices remain subdued and crypto-native investors remain cautious, Ferrante said institutional interest has rarely been stronger. “If you ask anyone on Wall Street, they’ve never been more bullish,” he said, pointing to growing momentum around tokenization, stablecoins and onchain settlement.— Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
OPTIMISM STARTS TO VOTE FOR UP TOKEN BUYBACKS: The Optimism community began voting on a governance proposal that links the value of the OP token more directly to the financial performance of the Superchain, a growing network of Ethereum layer-2 blockchains built using the OP Stack. If approved, the plan introduced by the Optimism Foundation will dedicate half of the ether revenue generated by the Superchain sequencer to monthly buybacks of the OP token over an initial 12-month period. The fund said the plan represents a significant development for OP, which has primarily served as a steering signal, and expects it to translate into structural demand for OP. “Each transaction across all OP chains expands the base from which the buybacks take place,” the proposal states, portraying OP as a token increasingly adapted to network use beyond its governance role. Voting opened last week and members have 6 days to vote on the proposal. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
EC reveals POST QUANTUM COMPUTING AS PRIORITY: The Ethereum Foundation (EF), a nonprofit that supports Ethereum’s development, is turning its long-standing post quantum research into a public engineering push, forming a dedicated “Post Quantum” team and calling the effort a top strategic priority for the network. EC researcher Justin Drake said the new group will be led by researcher Thomas Coratger, whom Drake described as a key talent behind “leanVM.” Drake framed leanVM as a core part of Ethereum’s broader approach to post-quantum security, arguing that timelines are accelerating and that Ethereum should move into a build phase instead of keeping work in the background. The announcement comes as crypto markets have grown more sensitive to quant risk headlines, although the practical threat remains a more dated issue. Quantum computing uses new types of processors that may one day break today’s encryption much faster than normal computers. Blockchain developers worry that it could eventually expose wallet keys, forcing networks to upgrade cryptography well before this risk becomes real. The biggest problem for large networks is not a single moment of breakthrough, but the time it takes to send a secure transition, update wallets and move users to new formats without disrupting daily use. Drake outlined several steps in the short term. Another weekly developer session focusing on post-quantum transactions is expected to start next month, led by Antonio Sanso. The agenda is aimed at user-facing defenses, including dedicated cryptographic tools inside the protocol, account abstraction paths, and long-term work on aggregating transaction signatures using leanVM. – Shaurya Malwa Read more.
In other news
- Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, has been buying physical gold at a rate of up to two tonnes per week as it builds one of the world’s largest bullion stockpiles. The company’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, told Bloomberg that Tether intends to continue buying gold at that rate for at least the next few months. At current prices, that equates to more than $1 billion in purchases every month. The purchases are delivered to a former high-security nuclear bunker in Switzerland, which Ardoino described as “a James Bond kind of place.” Tether’s gold holdings now total about 140 tons, worth an estimated $24 billion, making it one of the largest known holders of gold outside of governments, central banks and major ETFs. Most of this gold represents the company’s own reserves, while some backs its gold-backed stablecoin, which currently has a market cap of $2.7 billion, according to CoinGecko. — Francisco Rodrigues Read more.
- Stablecoins are moving beyond crypto experimentation and into trusted financial infrastructure, OKX said as it announced the launch of a new payment card in Europe. “Momentum is building fast,” Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, told CoinDesk. “Regulators are putting genuine safeguards in place, big banks are not only taking them seriously in terms of payments and settlements, but are joining industry-wide EU initiatives to become issuers, and everyday users are opting for faster and cheaper digital payments.” European regulators have accelerated this momentum through the rollout of the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework, which brings stablecoin issuers and crypto service providers under a single, block-wide regulatory regime. Ghoos’ comments accompanied OKX’s announcement that it has rolled out a new crypto payment card in Europe, allowing users to spend stablecoins directly at Mastercard-accepting merchants. The OKX card connects self-deposit wallets with real-world payments and offers fee-free spending, although there is a 0.4% market spread on the conversion point and crypto rewards. Unlike most crypto cards that require manual conversions or preloading funds, the OKX card lets users pay with stablecoins in their wallet. The assets are only converted at the time of purchase. Users earn crypto rewards of up to 20% for a limited promotional period. — Olivier Acuna Read more.
Legislation and policy
- The digital asset market is facing a critical fork in the road, according to crypto asset management firm Bitwise. In a blog post, the investment manager warned that the shutdown of the Clarity Act in Congress could move the market from a speculative bull to a grueling “show me” phase. The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed its hearing on marking up the crypto market structure from today until Thursday, citing the winter storm that hit much of the United States over the weekend. According to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, the Clarity Act is critical to cementing a current pro-crypto regulatory environment into permanent law. Without it, the industry remains vulnerable to the whims of future administrations. Hougan pointed out that market sentiment on whether the bill will become law has soured recently. While Polymarket traders in early January were pricing in an 80% chance of the bill passing, those odds have plummeted to around 50% after figures like Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong labeled the current draft unworkable. Armstrong said his company withdrew support for a comprehensive digital assets law after finding provisions that could have harmed consumers and stifled competition. Should the legislation stall, Hougan argued that crypto must follow the path of disruptive giants like Uber and Airbnb, which survived regulatory gray areas by becoming too popular for lawmakers to ignore. — Will Canny Read more.
- Although the UK’s crypto regulations are working their way through the system, most of the country’s banks still block their customers’ access to even registered crypto exchanges. The Financial Conduct Authority’s list of crypto-active companies that confirm they comply with the country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing rules now stands at 59, including exchanges such as Coinbase (COIN), Kraken and Gemini (GEMI). Still, customers looking to invest on these platforms are likely to find themselves hindered by their banks. In a published report, lobby group UK Cryptoasset Business Council found that seven out of the top 10 exchanges operating in the country are experiencing increased hostility from national banks over the past year. The remaining three things mentioned remain unchanged. Fully 80% of exchanges reported an increase in customers experiencing blocks or limits on wire transfers by 2025, and 70% described the banking environment as more hostile now than 12 months ago. The study found that 40% of transactions were blocked or delayed. “The debanking of the UK’s digital asset economy is a major impediment to its growth,” the group wrote in the report. “… almost all the major UK banks and payment service firms currently impose general transaction limits or complete blocks on crypto-asset exchanges. This trend is steadily worsening – with new restrictions being implemented …”— Olivier Acuna Read more.
Calendar
- 10.-12. February 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
- 17.-21. February 2026: EthDenver, Denver
- 23.-24. February 2026: NearCon, San Francisco
- March 30-Apr. 2, 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- 15-16 Apr. 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- 5.-7. May 2026: Consensus, Miami
- 3.-6. November 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- 15.-17. November 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
