Expert Tags Ethereum’s ERC-8004 Mainnet Launch An “iPhone Moment”, Here’s What It Means ⋆ ZyCrypto

Market analyst says Ethereum is having an “iPhone moment” as it approaches the ERC-8004 mainnet launch.

Ethereum is approaching an “iPhone moment” as the ERC-8004 standard prepares for a mainnet launch, potentially making ETH a vital asset for AI applications.

According to market commentary, the upgrade marks a milestone in which Ethereum transitions from hosting smart contracts to serving as critical infrastructure for autonomous, AI-driven systems operating at scale.

Currently, many publicly listed software companies are struggling to justify AI integration and are facing disruption from commoditised intelligence. Ethereum is becoming a scarce asset on which AI applications fundamentally depend.

The relationship between Ethereum and AI is not additive but symbiotic. Ethereum offers decentralised, tamper-resistant settlement and coordination, while AI injects the network with autonomous, high-frequency applications that expand on-chain activity and utility.

ERC 8004, formally introduced in August 2025 and now nearing mainnet, is designed to solve trust between autonomous agents. The standard enables AI agents from different organizations to discover one another, assess trustworthiness through portable reputation, and cooperate safely without prior relationships.

ERC 8004 does this through three on-chain registries covering identity, reputation, and validation, effectively creating an unfakeable digital profile for machines.

This infrastructure enables machine-to-machine payments, coordination, and enforcement without intermediaries. AI agents can autonomously trade, manage risk, price assets, and execute complex workflows, driving higher transaction frequency and more sophisticated contract usage.

The Ethereum Foundation’s dAI team has positioned Ethereum as the preferred settlement layer for AI agents, with forecasts suggesting AI-driven activity could account for up to 20% of DeFi volume by the end of 2025 and sustain gas growth into 2026.

The implications extend to real-world assets, where AI can automate valuation, compliance, and monitoring, improving efficiency for institutional products that require auditable execution.

Analysts argue that this dynamic strengthens Ethereum’s economics by increasing fees and burn, reinforcing its role as the neutral settlement and trust layer for an open AI agent economy.