The Ethereum Foundation is making significant strides into the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape with the inauguration of its dedicated dAI Team. This initiative aims to establish Ethereum as the essential settlement and coordination framework for autonomous AI agents and the broader machine economy.
In a recent announcement, Davide Crapis, the lead of the dAI Team and a former researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, outlined the team’s dual focus. The first goal is to develop tools that empower AI agents to carry out transactions and adhere to regulations independently, thereby eliminating the need for intermediaries. The second aim is to create a decentralized AI ecosystem that ensures future AI advancements do not hinge on a select few centralized corporations.
A pivotal component of this effort is the introduction of ERC-8004, a forthcoming Ethereum standard designed to function as a “trust layer” for AI agents. This new standard aims to provide these agents with an on-chain reputation score, allowing them to demonstrate their credibility and past performance. In an official forum post, Crapis articulated the significance of this innovation, stating, “This standard extends the Agent‑to‑Agent (A2A) protocol with a trust layer that allows participants to discover, choose, and interact with agents across organizational boundaries without pre-existing trust.”
Under ERC-8004, users will be able to verify an agent’s identity and its previous behavior, ensuring that they meet certain criteria through registries secured on the Ethereum blockchain. This initiative aligns with broader efforts in the tech community to foster accountability and interoperability among autonomous systems. Nick Johnson, the lead developer at Ethereum Name Service (ENS), emphasized the need for decentralized standards for agent identity and trust, to ensure that AI systems can work collaboratively and remain accountable.
By forming a specialized team to explore decentralized AI and the emerging AI agent economy, the Ethereum Foundation joins a growing cohort of blockchain networks striving to be at the forefront of this evolution. Competitors such as NEAR Protocol are branding themselves as the “blockchain for AI,” implementing frameworks like Shade Agents that facilitate inter-chain operations while maintaining user privacy.
Alex Shevchenko, a former product manager at NEAR Protocol and now CEO of Aurora Labs, highlighted two promising applications for AI within the blockchain ecosystem: financial transactions and research. Shevchenko noted, “The traditional financial system is not suited for AI agents, which opens the door for cryptocurrencies to facilitate the AI economy. Moreover, the current model of AI research tends to be confined within businesses, which is inefficient. A decentralized approach to confidential machine learning will promote collaboration and drive innovation.”
Solana is also working to enhance the development of AI technology by offering an Agent Kit that enables developers to integrate AI models with decentralized finance (DeFi) and various on-chain applications. This toolkit allows AI agents to autonomously manage trades, liquidity, and a range of other activities, including the creation and lending of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
In contrast to its peers, SingularityNET has taken a unifying approach by collaborating with Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol to form the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance. This initiative aims to establish a consolidated platform where these projects can share resources, creating a single ecosystem conducive to the deployment of AI technologies.
As the AI economy continues to develop, Ethereum’s proactive steps to integrate decentralized systems position it well among its competitors, ensuring that it remains a pivotal player in the future landscape of artificial intelligence.
