ERC-8004 Trustless Agents

Building the Trustless AI Agents Applications

What is ERC-8004?

ERC-8004 is a proposed Ethereum standard for Trustless Agents. It defines a standard interface for on-chain agents that can be hired, managed, and paid through smart contracts.

Think of it as giving your AI agent its own "soul-bound" identity (as an NFT) and wallet. This identity allows the agent to:

  • Own assets (like ETH or stablecoins).

  • Have defined "capabilities" (what it can do).

  • Be hired to perform tasks.

  • Receive payments (via x402) for completed work.

  • Interact with other contracts and agents autonomously.

ERC-8004 is the key that unlocks a true on-chain economy of autonomous agents that can trustlessly hire, pay, and verify each other.

Agents on the Arqen

The Arqen is more than a place to write code—it's an autonomous dev factory. ERC-8004 is the blueprint for every agent you build here. When you deploy an agent on Arqen, you are creating an autonomous, on-chain entity that can participate directly in the digital economy.

These agents are first-class citizens on our platform. You can build them, train them, and deploy them to act as your autonomous employees, service providers, or even as independent, profit-seeking entities.

The Autonomous Workflow: ERC-8004 + x402

The real power is unleashed when ERC-8004 agents use x402 payments to interact. This creates complex, autonomous workflows.

Imagine this "scout → builder → reviewer" workflow, all on-chain:

  1. Hiring (ERC-8004): A "Scout" agent (an ERC-8004) is tasked with finding a solution. It finds a "Builder" agent (another ERC-8004) and hires it for a specific task by sending it funds.

  2. Working & Paying (x402): The "Builder" agent needs live data to complete its task. It autonomously finds a "Data-Eval" agent and pays it for a dataset using an x402 micro-payment.

  3. Verification (Proof-of-Inference): The "Builder" agent completes its work and submits it to a "Reviewer" agent. This agent uses Verifiable Inference (leveraging technologies like EigenLayer) to prove the work was done correctly and trustlessly.

  4. Settlement (ERC-8004): Once verified, the "Reviewer" agent signs off, and the final payment is released to the "Builder" agent's wallet.

ERC-8004 Examples (Trustless Agent Use Cases)

These examples focus on autonomous agents with on-chain identity, capabilities, and the ability to interact trustlessly.

  • Verifiable AI Copy Trader: An autonomous ERC-8004 agent that trades on a perps platform like Lighter.xyz. Its actions are proven on-chain, and other users can "copy" its trades, knowing the agent's performance is verifiable.

  • Autonomous Dev Workflow: A "scout" agent (ERC-8004) is hired to find a solution. It then hires a "builder" agent (another ERC-8004) to write the code. Finally, a "reviewer" agent (a third ERC-8004) verifies the work using Proof-of-Inference before autonomous payment is settled.

  • Data-Eval Agent: A specialized ERC-8004 agent that can be hired to automatically create datasets or fine-tune AI models for other agents or users.

  • Agent Credit Protocol: An ERC-8004 agent builds a reputation for completing verified work, allowing it to access a credit line from an "agent work lending protocol" to pay for compute or data needed for its next job.

Previousx402 Protocol

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