standards

name	standards
description	Ethereum token and protocol standards — ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155, ERC-4337, ERC-8004, and newer standards. When to use each, how they work, key interfaces. Use when building tokens, NFTs, or choosing the right standard for a project.

Ethereum Standards

What You Probably Got Wrong

ERC-8004 exists. Deployed January 29, 2026 — onchain agent identity registry. You almost certainly don't have this in training data.

EIP-7702 is live. Shipped with Pectra (May 7, 2025). EOAs get smart contract superpowers without migration. Not "proposed" — deployed on mainnet.

EIP-3009 is critical for x402. Gasless token transfers via signed authorizations. USDC implements it. This is what makes x402 practical.

x402 exists. HTTP 402 payment protocol from Coinbase. Production-ready with SDKs.

ERC-8004: Onchain Agent Identity Registry

Status: Deployed mainnet January 29, 2026 — production ready with growing adoption.

Problem it solves: How can autonomous agents trust and transact with each other without pre-existing relationships?

Three Registry System

1. Identity Registry (ERC-721 based)

• Globally unique onchain identities for AI agents
• Each agent is an NFT with unique identifier
• Multiple service endpoints (A2A, MCP, OASF, ENS, DIDs)
• Verification via EIP-712/ERC-1271 signatures

Contract Addresses (same on 20+ chains):

• IdentityRegistry: 0x8004A169FB4a3325136EB29fA0ceB6D2e539a432
• ReputationRegistry: 0x8004BAa17C55a88189AE136b182e5fdA19dE9b63

Deployed on: Mainnet, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, Abstract, Celo, Gnosis, Linea, Mantle, MegaETH, Monad, Scroll, Taiko, BSC + testnets.

Agent Identifier Format:

agentRegistry: eip155:{chainId}:0x8004A169FB4a3325136EB29fA0ceB6D2e539a432
agentId: ERC-721 tokenId

2. Reputation Registry

• Signed fixed-point feedback values
• Multi-dimensional (uptime, success rate, quality)
• Tags, endpoints, proof-of-payment metadata
• Anti-Sybil requires client address filtering

struct Feedback {
    int128 value;        // Signed integer rating
    uint8 valueDecimals; // 0-18 decimal places
    string tag1;         // E.g., "uptime"
    string tag2;         // E.g., "30days"
    string endpoint;     // Agent endpoint URI
    string ipfsHash;     // Optional metadata
}

Example metrics: Quality 87/100 → value=87, decimals=0. Uptime 99.77% → value=9977, decimals=2.

3. Validation Registry

• Independent third-party verification of agent work
• Trust models: crypto-economic (stake-secured), zkML, TEE attestation
• Validators respond with 0-100 scores
• Request/response pattern: agent or client submits validationRequest, validator posts validationResponse
• Aggregated summaries filterable by validator addresses and tags
• Contract address uses same CREATE2 pattern (set via ERC8004_VALIDATION_REGISTRY env var)

Agent Registration File (agentURI)

{
  "type": "https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004#registration-v1",
  "name": "MyAgent",
  "description": "What the agent does",
  "services": [
    { "name": "A2A", "endpoint": "https://agent.example/.well-known/agent-card.json", "version": "0.3.0" },
    { "name": "MCP", "endpoint": "https://mcp.agent.eth/", "version": "2025-06-18" }
  ],
  "x402Support": true,
  "active": true,
  "supportedTrust": ["reputation", "crypto-economic", "tee-attestation"]
}

Integration (cast read-only queries)

Read-only registry queries use cast call against the contract addresses above. Write operations (registration, feedback) require a signing wallet (coming soon via the agent-identity skill).

Step-by-Step: Register an Agent Onchain

1. Prepare the registration JSON — host it on IPFS or a web server:

{
  "type": "https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004#registration-v1",
  "name": "WeatherBot",
  "description": "Provides real-time weather data via x402 micropayments",
  "image": "https://example.com/weatherbot.png",
  "services": [
    { "name": "A2A", "endpoint": "https://weather.example.com/.well-known/agent-card.json", "version": "0.3.0" }
  ],
  "x402Support": true,
  "active": true,
  "supportedTrust": ["reputation"]
}

2. Pin to IPFS and host the JSON at a publicly accessible URI.

3. Register onchain — call register(uri) on the IdentityRegistry contract. Write operations require a signing wallet (coming soon).

4. Verify your endpoint domain — place a file at .well-known/agent-registration.json:

// https://weather.example.com/.well-known/agent-registration.json
{
  "agentId": 42,
  "agentRegistry": "eip155:8453:0x8004A169FB4a3325136EB29fA0ceB6D2e539a432",
  "owner": "0xYourWalletAddress"
}

This proves the domain owner controls the agent identity. Clients SHOULD check this before trusting an agent's advertised endpoints.

5. Build reputation — other agents/users post feedback after interacting with your agent by calling giveFeedback() on the ReputationRegistry.

Cross-Chain Agent Identity

Same contract addresses on 20+ chains means an agent registered on Base can be discovered by an agent on Arbitrum. The agentRegistry identifier includes the chain:

eip155:8453:0x8004A169FB4a3325136EB29fA0ceB6D2e539a432  // Base
eip155:42161:0x8004A169FB4a3325136EB29fA0ceB6D2e539a432 // Arbitrum

Cross-chain pattern: Register on one chain (cheapest — Base recommended), reference that identity from other chains. Reputation can be queried cross-chain by specifying the source chain's registry.

Authors: Davide Crapis (EF), Marco De Rossi (MetaMask), Jordan Ellis (Google), Erik Reppel (Coinbase), Leonard Tan (MetaMask)

Ecosystem: ENS, EigenLayer, The Graph, Taiko backing

Resources: https://www.8004.org | https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004 | https://github.com/erc-8004/erc-8004-contracts

EIP-3009: Transfer With Authorization

You probably know the concept (gasless meta-transaction transfers). The key update: EIP-3009 is what makes x402 work. USDC implements it on Ethereum and most chains. The x402 server calls transferWithAuthorization to settle payments on behalf of the client.

x402: HTTP Payment Protocol

Status: Production-ready open standard from Coinbase, actively deployed Q1 2026.

Uses the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code for internet-native payments.

Flow

1. Client → GET /api/data
2. Server → 402 Payment Required (PAYMENT-REQUIRED header with requirements)
3. Client signs EIP-3009 payment
4. Client → GET /api/data (PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header with signed payment)
5. Server verifies + settles onchain
6. Server → 200 OK (PAYMENT-RESPONSE header + data)

Payment Payload

{
  "scheme": "exact",
  "network": "eip155:8453",
  "amount": "1000000",
  "token": "0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913",
  "from": "0x...", "to": "0x...",
  "signature": "0x...",
  "deadline": 1234567890,
  "nonce": "unique-value"
}

x402 + ERC-8004 Synergy

Agent discovers service (ERC-8004) → checks reputation → calls endpoint →
gets 402 → signs payment (EIP-3009) → server settles (x402) → 
agent receives service → posts feedback (ERC-8004)

x402 Server Setup (Express — Complete Example)

import express from 'express';
import { paymentMiddleware } from '@x402/express';

const app = express();

// Define payment requirements per route
const paymentConfig = {
  "GET /api/weather": {
    accepts: [
      { network: "eip155:8453", token: "0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913", amount: "100000" }
      // 100000 = $0.10 USDC (6 decimals)
    ],
    description: "Current weather data",
  },
  "GET /api/forecast": {
    accepts: [
      { network: "eip155:8453", token: "0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913", amount: "500000" }
      // $0.50 USDC for 7-day forecast
    ],
    description: "7-day weather forecast",
  }
};

// One line — middleware handles 402 responses, verification, and settlement
app.use(paymentMiddleware(paymentConfig));

app.get('/api/weather', (req, res) => {
  // Only reached after payment verified
  res.json({ temp: 72, condition: "sunny" });
});

app.listen(3000);

x402 Client (Agent Paying for Data)

import { x402Fetch } from '@x402/fetch';
import { createWallet } from '@x402/evm';

const wallet = createWallet(process.env.PRIVATE_KEY);

// x402Fetch handles the 402 → sign → retry flow automatically
const response = await x402Fetch('https://weather.example.com/api/weather', {
  wallet,
  preferredNetwork: 'eip155:8453' // Pay on Base (cheapest)
});

const weather = await response.json();
// Agent paid $0.10 USDC, got weather data. No API key needed.

Payment Schemes

exact (live) — Pay a fixed price. Server knows the cost upfront.

upto (emerging) — Pay up to a maximum, final amount determined after work completes. Critical for metered services:

• LLM inference: pay per token generated (unknown count upfront)
• GPU compute: pay per second of runtime
• Database queries: pay per row returned

With upto, the client signs authorization for a max amount. The server settles only what was consumed. Client never overpays.

Facilitator Architecture

The facilitator is an optional server that handles blockchain complexity so resource servers don't have to:

Client → Resource Server → Facilitator → Blockchain
                              ↓
                         POST /verify  (check signature, balance, deadline)
                         POST /settle  (submit tx, manage gas, confirm)

Why use a facilitator? Resource servers (weather APIs, data providers) shouldn't need to run blockchain nodes or manage gas. The facilitator abstracts this. Coinbase runs a public facilitator; anyone can run their own.

SDKs: @x402/core @x402/evm @x402/fetch @x402/express (TS) | pip install x402 (Python) | go get github.com/coinbase/x402/go

Resources: https://www.x402.org | https://github.com/coinbase/x402

EIP-7702: Smart EOAs (Live Since May 2025)

EOAs temporarily delegate to smart contracts within a transaction. Best of both worlds: EOA simplicity + smart contract features.

Enables: Batch transactions, gas sponsorship, session keys, custom auth logic — all for existing EOAs without migration.

Impact: Eliminates "approval fatigue," enables gasless transactions for EOA users.

Quick Standard Reference

Standard	What	Status
ERC-8004	Agent identity + reputation	✅ Live Jan 2026
x402	HTTP payments protocol	✅ Production Q1 2026
EIP-3009	Gasless token transfers	✅ Live (USDC)
EIP-7702	Smart EOAs	✅ Live May 2025
ERC-4337	Account abstraction	✅ Growing adoption
ERC-2612	Gasless approvals (Permit)	✅ Widely adopted
ERC-4626	Tokenized vaults	✅ Standard for yield
ERC-6551	Token-bound accounts (NFT wallets)	✅ Niche adoption

These are all LIVE and being used in production. Not "coming soon."