1. Main Milestone: Activation of ERC-8004 (January 2026)
• Status: The standard has moved from being a proposal to being active on the mainnet. This means that developers can now deploy AI agents that comply with this protocol without the need for test networks.
• Immediate Function: The first "Agent Identities" are now being registered on the blockchain. This is equivalent to issuing passports for bots, allowing them to have their own recognized wallet by the system to receive and send payments.
2. Creation of the "dAI Team" at the Ethereum Foundation
• New Team: The Ethereum Foundation has formalized a team dedicated exclusively to this area, led by Davide Crapis.
• Objective: Their current mission is to create the "settlement layer" for machines. They are building the tools for agents to not only "talk" to each other but to securely close economic deals (paying for data or computing services) without human intervention.
3. Immediate Roadmap (February - March 2026)
Key events have been announced to drive the mass adoption of this standard by developers:
• February 17 (Denver): Event "Agentic Spritz". This will be the first technical meeting focused on real demos of agents using ERC-8004.
• February 25 (San Francisco): "Agentic Brunch", focused on connecting Silicon Valley companies with the Ethereum infrastructure.
• March 3: Global Virtual Launch, where the first functional commercial projects built on this standard are expected to be presented.
4. First Use Cases Underway
According to activity reports on the network in recent days, practical "advances" are being seen in: M2M micropayments: AI agents paying cents of a dollar (in stablecoins) to other agents for instant access to APIs or databases, something that was very slow with the traditional banking system.
• Automated DeFi: Agents that manage investment portfolios autonomously, executing complex strategies 24/7 without the user needing to approve each move, while keeping custody of the funds under the control of the end user.