ERC-8004
An Ethereum standard adding on-chain Identity, Reputation and Validation registries so agents can be discovered and trusted across organizational boundaries — a trust layer that extends A2A.
- name
- ERC-8004
- full_name
- ERC-8004: Trustless Agents
- layer
- identity
- creator
- Marco De Rossi, Davide Crapis, Jordan Ellis, Erik Reppel (Ethereum Improvement Proposal)
- status
- Draft (Standards Track: ERC)
- year
- 2025
- one_liner
- An Ethereum standard adding on-chain Identity, Reputation and Validation registries so agents can be discovered and trusted across organizational boundaries — a trust layer that extends A2A.
- spec_url
- https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004
- snippet
Three on-chain registries — Identity, Reputation, Validation — give A2A agents portable, verifiable trust.- abbreviation
- ERC-8004
- also_known_as
ERC-8004Trustless AgentsEIP-8004- canonical_spec_url
- https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004
- entity_uri
- https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004
- taxonomy_layer
- identity
- sub_layer
- on-chain-agent-trust-registry
- protocol_type
- verification
- central_problem
- Lets AI agents be discovered, authenticated, and trusted across organizational boundaries without preexisting relationships, by anchoring identity, reputation, and validation in on-chain registries.
- maintainer
- Ethereum community via the EIP/ERC process (authors: Marco De Rossi, Davide Crapis, Jordan Ellis, Erik Reppel)
- governance_body
- Ethereum (EIP/ERC Standards Track)
- license
- CC0 (Ethereum EIPs are published under CC0)
- maturity_tag
- emerging
- current_spec_version
- Draft verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004
- spec_date
- 2025-08-13 verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004
- launch_date
- 2025-08-13
- last_verified
- 2026-06-15
- transport
- On-chain smart-contract registries (Ethereum and EVM networks)
- core_mechanism
- ERC-8004 specifies three lightweight on-chain registries: an Identity Registry (discoverable, cross-chain agent IDs), a Reputation Registry (structured, verifiable feedback), and a Validation Registry (cryptographic / crypto-economic task verification via reputation, stake-secured validation, or TEEs). It complements A2A and MCP — A2A handles message/capability exchange, ERC-8004 adds the verifiable identity, portable reputation, and validation A2A lacks.
- discovery_endpoint
- On-chain Identity Registry lookups (agent IDs); cross-chain
- settlement_type
- —
- adoption_metric
- — verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004
- notable_adopters
{"value":"Authored with contributors from MetaMask, the Ethereum Foundation, Google, and Coinbase","source":"https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004"}- relationships
{"predicate":"provides_identity_for","target":"a2a","note":"ERC-8004 -provides_identity_for-> A2A (research §2 seed triple): it adds the verifiable identity/reputation/validation trust layer to A2A's communication."}{"predicate":"complements","target":"web-bot-auth","note":"Both establish agent identity/trust; ERC-8004 is on-chain (decentralized registries), Web Bot Auth is off-chain (HTTP message signatures)."}- ideal_use_case
- Giving cross-organization agents a portable, on-chain identity and reputation so they can be trusted without prior relationships.
- when_to_use
- When agents must transact/collaborate across trust boundaries and you want decentralized, verifiable identity, reputation, and validation on-chain.
- when_not_to_use
- When an off-chain signature (Web Bot Auth) or a vendor directory is sufficient, or you cannot use on-chain infrastructure.
- code_example
- // ERC-8004 Identity Registry (schematic Solidity interface) interface IIdentityRegistry { function registerAgent(string calldata agentDomain, address agentAddress) external returns (uint256 agentId); function resolveByAddress(address agentAddress) external view returns (uint256 agentId); }
- source
- Canonical EIP (Status: Draft; Created 2025-08-13; three registries Identity/Reputation/Validation; complements A2A and MCP): https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004 . Authors: Marco De Rossi, Davide Crapis, Jordan Ellis, Erik Reppel. Seed triple (ERC-8004 provides identity for A2A): research §2.
- agent_readiness_link
- agent-readiness/web-bot-auth