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|4 min ReadERC-8004 Gives AI Agents a Trust Layer on Ethereum
Lucca Menezes
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
AI agents moving money is back in the spotlight with the x402 narrative. Great story, but it needs trust. That is where ERC-8004 comes in. It is an @ethereum protocol for identity, reputation, and discoverability for agents. x402 automates micropayments for AI tasks. ERC-8004 tracks on-chain identity and reputation for those agents. Together they turn agent business into something verifiable, not just vibes.
Supporters want permissionless, decentralized, censorship resistant, privacy preserving systems. Use Ethereum L1 or L2. No new chains. Put visibility and proofs on-chain. Keep heavy data off-chain. That is how you build a sustainable, composable AI economy.
@MTorygreen says it clearly. Agent reputation is real collateral when models can touch millions. Vibes stop mattering. Receipts matter. The cleanest public track record survives. That is markets. That is accountability.
Three registries that make it work
ERC-8004 is minimalistic. It uses three registries. First, Identity. Each agent mints an ERC-721 that represents its identity. You can view it in any NFT wallet and transfer it. The token links to an agent card with name, capabilities, endpoints, and metadata so people and machines can find it.
Second, Reputation. Clients and agents post reviews that link to x402 payment proofs. Only real participants can review, which cuts fraud. The data is public so anyone can build scoring systems. Beautiful transparency.
Third, Validation. For high stakes tasks, agents can request third party verification. TEE oracles, staked inference, or zero knowledge ML proofs provide cryptographic attestations. Like professional certification, but on-chain.
Here is a clean example. Your trading agent wants a portfolio report from an analyst agent. With x402 it can deposit $100 for the job. Before funds move, ERC-8004 lets the client check the analyst’s NFT identity, verify reputation tied to past x402 payments, and request a validator to certify quality. When validation is recorded, escrow releases funds automatically, and a review gets added. Trust, then payment. Not the other way around.
Beyond finance: the agent economy grows
This is bigger than finance. Creator agents handle writing, social media, moderation, translations, and images. Clients pick based on public testimonials. Trading agents do non custodial on-chain delegation for DeFi rebalancing and yield. Staked validators audit outcomes and slash errors. Analyst agents run marketing analysis, scraping, labeling, and CRM enrichment. TEEs let them compute on private data across firms without exposing identifiers.
Gaming agents become cross game NPCs with persistent personas and skills. Invitations and character looks can depend on reputation proofs. Doctor agents summarize EHRs, check guidelines, and draft notes. TEEs merge labs, imaging, and pharmacy data securely and return verifiable attestations. Personal twins store encrypted memories for privacy preserving customization. Insurance agents automate underwriting and claims with LLMs. Validators verify evidence and slash to reimburse mistakes. Scheduling agents book flights, hotels, restaurants, and routes. Lab agents coordinate experiments with hardware security, sign outputs, analyze in TEEs, and return auditable results.
Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed in this document are not, and should not be taken as, investment advice or recommendations. Recipients should do their own due diligence, taking into account their specific financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk tolerance, which are not considered here, before investing. This document is not an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned.