Ethereum to roll out new AI agent standard soon

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network news

Ethereum’s new AI agent standard: Ethereum developers are preparing to deploy ERC-8004, a new standard designed to allow software agents to find each other, prove who they are, and decide who to trust when operating across different systems. This proposal introduces a simple idea. If AI agents are to autonomously transact, coordinate, and execute tasks, they will need a shared method to build durable identity and trust, much like users, wallets, and smart contracts do today. This comes as large companies race to bring AI agents into their companies. Most systems still rely on private identity lists, API keys, or bilateral trust agreements. This works within an enterprise, but not when agents need to coordinate across vendors, chains, or jurisdictions. ERC-8004 defines three lightweight registries that can run on the Ethereum mainnet or Layer 2 network. The first is an identity registry, which uses ERC-721 formatted tokens to assign a unique on-chain ID to each agent. This identifier points to a registration file that describes what the agent does, how to reach it, and the protocols it supports. Ownership of identifiers can be transferred, delegated, or updated, giving agents a portable and censorship-resistant identity. The second is a reputation registry, which allows clients (human or machine) to provide structured feedback about an agent's performance. The registry stores the raw signal on-chain, allowing more complex scoring and filtering to be performed off-chain. The goal is not to rank agents directly, but to expose reputation data so that it can be reused across applications. The third is a validation registry, which allows agents to request independent checks of their work. Validators may include staked services, machine learning proofs, trusted hardware, or other verification systems. These results are stored on the blockchain so other users can see who checked what. — Shaurya Marwa read more.

The latest phase of SOLANA focuses on construction. Solana's latest phase looks much less flashy than its meme-coin-fueled highs, but that may be the goal. Armani Ferrante, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview that the Solana ecosystem has redoubled its focus over the past year on a more modest focus: financial infrastructure. After years of experimentation with the broader crypto industry focusing on NFTs, gaming, and social tokens, attention is now returning to decentralized finance, trading, and payments. “People are starting to seriously think about blockchain as a new kind of financial infrastructure,” said Ferrante, who will be speaking at CoinDesk's Consensus Hong Kong conference next month. “It's not about NFTs, it's not about games like random moonshots, it's much more about finance.” While this change made Solana feel dull to some outside observers, Ferrante took it as a sign of maturity. The network is increasingly positioning itself around high-throughput on-chain trading, market structures, and payments in what some are calling “Internet capital markets.” This shift comes amid a clear divide between crypto sentiment and traditional finance. Cryptocurrency prices remain depressed and crypto-native investors remain cautious, but institutional interest has rarely been this strong, Ferrante said. “If you ask anyone on Wall Street, they are more bullish than ever,” he said, pointing to the growing momentum around tokenization, stablecoins and on-chain payments. Margaux Nykerk read more.

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Optimism begins voting on OP token buyback: The Optimism community has begun voting on a governance proposal that would directly tie the value of OP tokens to the economic performance of Superchain, a growing network of Ethereum Layer 2 blockchains built using the OP Stack. If approved, the plan introduced by the Optimism Foundation would earmark half of the Ether revenue generated by the Superchain Sequencer to fund monthly buybacks of OP tokens for the first 12 months. The foundation said the plan represents an important evolution for OP, which has primarily functioned as a governance token, and it expects this to lead to structural demand for OP. “Every transaction across any OP chain expands the basis on which buybacks occur,” the proposal states, framing OP as a token increasingly aligned with network usage in addition to a governance role. Voting began last week, and members have six days to vote on the proposal. — Margaux Nykerk read more.

EF announces post-quantum computing as a priority: The Ethereum Foundation (EF), the nonprofit organization supporting Ethereum's development, has transformed years of post-quantum research into promoting public engineering, forming a dedicated “post-quantum” team and making this work a top strategic priority for the network. EF researcher Justin Drake said the new group will be led by researcher Thomas Coratger, whom Drake described as the key person behind leanVM. Drake positioned Lean VM as a core part of Ethereum's broader approach to post-quantum security, arguing that the timeline is accelerating and Ethereum should move into the construction phase rather than continue working in the background. The announcement comes as the crypto market has become more sensitive to headlines of quantum risk, even though the practical threat remains an age-old issue. Quantum computing uses a new type of processor that could one day be able to break today's encryption much faster than regular computers. Blockchain developers worry that wallet keys could eventually be exposed, forcing networks to upgrade their encryption well before that risk becomes a reality. The bigger issue for large networks is not a single breakthrough moment, but the time it takes to ship a secure migration, update wallets, and migrate users to a new format without disrupting daily usage. Drake outlined some short-term steps. Biweekly developer sessions focused on post-quantum transactions are scheduled to begin next month, led by Antonio Sanso. This agenda is aimed at user-side defense, including dedicated cryptographic tools within the protocol, account abstraction paths, and long-term work on transaction signature aggregation using leanVM. – Shaurya Marwa read more.

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In other news

Tether, the world's largest stablecoin operator, is buying up to two tonnes of physical gold per week as it builds one of the world's largest bullion inventories. CEO Paolo Ardoino told Bloomberg that Tether intends to continue buying gold at that rate for at least the next few months. At today's prices, that means more than $1 billion is being purchased every month. Purchases will be delivered to a high-security former nuclear shelter in Switzerland, which Ardoino described as “a James Bond-like place.” Tether's gold holdings currently total around 140 tonnes, worth an estimated $24 billion, making it one of the largest known holders of gold outside of governments, central banks and major ETFs. Most of that gold represents the company's reserves, but some are backing the gold-backed stablecoin, which currently has a market cap of $2.7 billion, according to CoinGecko. — Francisco Rodriguez read more.
OKX announced the launch of a new debit card in Europe and said stablecoins are moving beyond cryptocurrency experimentation to trusted financial infrastructure. “Momentum is rapidly building,” OKX Europe CEO Erardo Goos told CoinDesk. “Regulators are putting real guardrails in place, and big banks are not only taking them seriously when it comes to payments and settlements, but are also joining the industry-wide EU effort to become issuers and everyday users opting for faster, cheaper digital payments.”European regulators are accelerating that momentum through the rollout of the EU Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) framework, which brings stablecoin issuers and crypto service providers under a single block-wide regulatory regime. Goose's comments came alongside OKX's announcement that it is rolling out a new crypto payment card in Europe, allowing users to spend stablecoins directly at merchants that accept Mastercard. The OKX card connects self-custodial wallets with real-world payments, offering fee-free spending, but with a 0.4% market spread and cryptocurrency rewards applied at the point of conversion. Unlike most crypto cards that require manual conversion or preloading of funds, the OKX card allows users to pay with stablecoins held in their wallets. Assets are converted only at the time of purchase. Users can earn up to 20% crypto rewards during a limited promotional period. — Olivier Acuña read more.

regulation and policy

The digital asset market is facing a critical juncture, according to crypto asset management company Bitwise. The investment manager warned in a blog post that the stalled transparency bill in Congress could move the market from a speculative bull market to a harsh “show me” phase. The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed its virtual currency market structure price increase hearing from today to Thursday due to the winter storm that hit much of the United States over the weekend. According to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, the Clarity Act is essential to solidify the current pro-crypto regulatory environment into permanent law. Without it, the industry remains vulnerable to the whims of future administrations. Hogan noted that market sentiment regarding whether the bill will pass has worsened recently. In early January, Polymarket traders had priced the bill at an 80% chance of passage, but that chance plummeted to about 50% after Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong and others deemed the current proposal unworkable. Armstrong said his company withdrew its support for the comprehensive digital assets bill after discovering provisions that could harm consumers and stifle competition. If the bill stalls, Hogan argued, cryptocurrencies will need to follow the path of disruptive giants like Uber and Airbnb. Uber and Airbnb have become too popular for lawmakers to ignore and have survived regulatory gray areas. — Will Canny read more.
Despite the UK's system-wide crypto regulations, most of the country's banks still block customers' access to registered crypto exchanges. The Financial Conduct Authority's list of crypto-asset companies that certify that they meet national anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations currently includes 59 companies, including exchanges such as Coinbase (COIN), Kraken and Gemini (GEMI). Still, customers who want to invest on these platforms are likely to be blocked by their banks. Lobby group UK Cryptocurrency Business Council has revealed in a report that seven of the top 10 exchanges operating in the country have perceived increased hostility from the national bank over the past year. The remaining three remain unchanged. 80% of exchanges report that more customers will face bank transfer blocks or restrictions in 2025, and 70% say the banking environment is even more challenging than 12 months ago. The study found that 40% of transactions are blocked or delayed. “Debanking of the UK digital asset economy is a major impediment to its growth,” the group said in its report. “…nearly all of the UK's major banks and payment services companies have now imposed comprehensive trading restrictions or outright blocks on crypto exchanges. This trend is steadily worsening, and new restrictions are being introduced…” — Olivier Acuña read more.

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