Ethereum to Serve as a Trust Layer for AI Agents

Ethereum shifts focus to trust environment for AI, says Davide Crapis from EF.

Ethereum will shift away from on-chain computations for neural networks, opting instead to create a trust environment for autonomous programs. This was stated by Davide Crapis, head of AI at the Ethereum Foundation (EF), in an interview with CoinDesk at NEARCON 2026.

According to him, the widespread use of artificial intelligence systems threatens the core values of the crypto industry: user sovereignty, privacy, and censorship resistance. Ethereum does not intend to compete with OpenAI or Google in developing language models. The developers’ goal is to prevent corporations from re-centralising internet infrastructure.

The team’s strategy is divided into two directions:

Decentralised AI Coordination

Autonomous programs or agents need an environment for identification, payment exchange, and reputation building. 

Resource-intensive computations will remain off-chain on traditional servers. The blockchain will act as a public registry without a single control centre. It will help agents find each other and transfer funds. Crapis compared such a system to a decentralised version of Google reviews with built-in payments. 

To implement the mechanism, the team is standardising the AI agent identification protocol — ERC-8004. According to Crapis, this technology is already gaining popularity beyond the Ethereum ecosystem. 

Data Protection

The second direction has been given the working title Props AI. Centralised AI services collect detailed profiles of individuals based on their queries. To avoid surveillance, developers propose processing data locally on users’ devices.

Crapis also warned of an increase in cyberattacks. Neural networks will learn to convincingly impersonate humans, rendering traditional passwords useless. The foundation of the new security system should be cryptographic keys with mathematical verification capabilities.

Integrating AI has become one of the key priorities for the Ethereum Foundation. Developers acknowledge that algorithms will define a new stage of network development and aim to make the blockchain a fundamental layer for smart agents.

Back in February, project co-founder Vitalik Buterin extensively analysed potential scenarios for synergy between Ethereum and artificial intelligence.