The Ethereum Foundation is intensifying its efforts to expand the blockchain’s capabilities by unveiling a new team focused on decentralized artificial intelligence (dAI). The initiative aims to position Ethereum not only as a financial settlement layer but also as a trusted platform for intelligent systems and secure digital interactions.
AI economy and decentralized AI stack
In a September 15 post on X, Davide Crapis, lead of the dAI team, said the group’s mission is to make Ethereum the settlement layer where autonomous agents can transact, coordinate, and build reputation without centralized oversight.
Ethereum + AI is about making sure humans keep agency and AI can reach its potential. Neutral, verifiable, censorship-resistant infrastructure means AI works for the people, all of us.
The initiative focuses on two main priorities:
- Building an AI economy on Ethereum: enabling AI agents and robots to make payments and follow governance rules directly on the network.
- Advancing a decentralized AI stack: ensuring AI systems are developed using open, verifiable, and censorship-resistant infrastructure rather than proprietary silos.
Symbiotic relationship between Ethereum and AI
Crapis emphasized the mutual benefits of Ethereum and AI. As intelligent agents grow in sophistication, they will need a neutral blockchain layer to anchor value and reputation, while Ethereum gains utility by serving as that foundational layer.
The Ethereum Foundation is extending this vision through ERC-8004, a proposed standard that allows AI agents to prove trustworthiness and conduct secure transactions.
To accomplish its goals, the dAI team plans to collaborate with ecosystem projects and academic researchers.
Protocol and Ecosystem teams work side by side with both at the EF, linking protocol improvements with the needs of AI builders, and funding innovative public goods that will make Ethereum the best home for AI.