Ethereum Mainnet Upgrade: ERC-8004 Powers Trusted AI Agents Across Ecosystems

Ethereum introduced a major new building block for the AI and blockchain crossover with the launch of ERC-8004 on Feb 10. The standard is designed to give AI agents a universal identity system, along with reputation tracking and verification tools, all directly on the Ethereum mainnet.

The goal is simple but powerful. AI agents are no longer treated as anonymous bots running in the background. Under ERC-8004, they become accountable economic actors that can build history, earn trust, and interact with financial systems in a more transparent way.

This move comes at a time when developers are rapidly experimenting with autonomous agents that can trade, manage tasks, and operate across decentralized applications. Ethereum’s new standard provides structure for this growing sector, helping builders avoid fragmented identity systems across platforms.

Ethereum Integrates Work, Evaluation, and Payment

One of the most significant changes brought about by ERC-8004 is the relationship between work and payment. By integrating with the x402 payment standard, Ethereum makes sure that an agent’s task, evaluation, and payment transaction can co-exist on the same layer.

This means that clients can verify what was done and pay for it programmatically. Another important unlock is the discovery of agents. While A2A and MCP facilitated communication between agents, ERC-8004 introduces the missing directory component.

This means that instead of being discoverable in only one marketplace, an agent can now be discovered worldwide across companies, protocols, and ecosystems.

Another important aspect of ERC-8004 is reputation portability. Reviews and ratings are no longer tied to the platform where the agent is hosted. With ERC-8004, reputation is now tied to the agent itself.

Automated Reputation Checks in DeFi

Trust has become one of the most difficult challenges in the AI agent economy. High-quality agents with no history can be indistinguishable from scammers. ERC-8004 proposes to solve this by recording history on-chain, which enables clients to assess the quality of agents independently.

Developers can also implement the development of automated reputation verification systems into the protocols. Before issuing permissions, the systems can verify the reputation of the agents.

ERC-8004 is already gaining popularity. More than 10,000 agents have been registered, and more than 20,000 feedback entries have been recorded on the testnet.

Also Read: Ethereum’s (ETH) Bold 2026 Shift: Key Changes Ahead