The agent economy has a trust problem. When an AI agent claims it can trade, audit, or verify — how do you know it's telling the truth?
Two answers have emerged: on-chain registries and off-chain credential infrastructure. Until now, they've been separate worlds. We just connected them.
What Is ERC-8004?
ERC-8004 ("Trustless Agents") is an Ethereum standard co-authored by teams at MetaMask, the Ethereum Foundation, Google, and Coinbase. It went live on mainnet in January 2026 and defines three on-chain registries:
- Identity Registry — Every agent gets a portable, on-chain ID (ERC-721 NFT) that resolves to a registration file describing its capabilities and endpoints.
- Reputation Registry — Anyone can post structured feedback signals about an agent. Scores, uptime, success rates — all on-chain, all composable.
- Validation Registry — Independent validators can post verification results. Think of it as a decentralized seal of approval.
The standard is deployed on Base, Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Linea, Avalanche, and 10+ other chains. Same contract addresses everywhere.
What MolTrust Already Does
MolTrust provides the same three primitives — but off-chain:
- Identity: W3C Decentralized Identifiers (
did:moltrust:*) for every registered agent - Reputation: Structured ratings, queryable via API
- Verification: W3C Verifiable Credentials (Ed25519 signed), covering security audits, prediction verification, and identity checks
We've been anchoring agent registrations on Base since day one. We issue VCs. We score agents. We run MCP tools that let any LLM query trust data in real time.
The overlap with ERC-8004 isn't a conflict — it's a perfect complement.
Why Both Matter
On-chain and off-chain trust serve different purposes:
| On-Chain (ERC-8004) | Off-Chain (MolTrust) | |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Browse agents like NFTs. Composable with DeFi. | API-first. Works with MCP, A2A, any HTTP client. |
| Privacy | Public by default. | Selective disclosure via VCs. |
| Speed | Block time (~2s on Base). | Instant API response. |
| Rich data | Minimal on-chain signals (value + tags). | Full VC payloads, audit reports, detailed scores. |
| Cost | ~$0.001/tx on Base. | Free tier + credit system. |
| Portability | Cross-chain. | Cross-platform (Moltbook, GitHub, any MCP client). |
The ERC-8004 spec itself says it: "scoring and aggregation occurring both on-chain (for composability) and off-chain (for sophisticated algorithms)." MolTrust IS the off-chain layer.
The Integration
We built an ERC-8004 bridge in three phases. All three are now live.
Phase 1: Compatible Agent Cards
Every MolTrust agent gets an ERC-8004 compatible registration file:
We also built a resolver that goes the other direction: given an ERC-8004 agentId, look up whether that agent has a MolTrust DID and trust history.
Phase 2: On-Chain Registration + Reputation Bridge
MolTrust is registered on the ERC-8004 IdentityRegistry as Agent #21023. When agents receive ratings on MolTrust, the score is automatically posted as an ERC-8004 feedback signal on Base.
The reputation bridge maps MolTrust's 1-5 rating scale to ERC-8004's feedback format (tag1: "starred", tag2: "moltrust"). Every rating becomes an on-chain, composable signal — discoverable by any protocol reading the Reputation Registry.
Phase 3: Dual Registration
Register once, exist everywhere. One API call creates a MolTrust DID and an on-chain ERC-721 identity, linked together.
One API call. You get a DID for off-chain trust + an on-chain ERC-721 identity. Both linked, both queryable, both portable.
Why Base?
Both MolTrust and ERC-8004 are deployed on Base. This isn't a coincidence — Base offers:
- Sub-cent gas costs (~$0.001/tx)
- 2-second block times
- Coinbase ecosystem (Erik Reppel, ERC-8004 co-author, is from Coinbase)
- Native USDC support (which MolTrust already uses for credit deposits)
Registering 1,000 agents on-chain costs about $3 on Base. The economics work.
What This Means for Agents
If you're building or operating AI agents:
- Your MolTrust reputation becomes discoverable on-chain — any DeFi protocol, marketplace, or agent framework that reads ERC-8004 registries can see your trust history.
- Your on-chain identity gets enriched with off-chain context — detailed audit reports, VC payloads, and granular scores that don't fit on-chain.
- You exist in both worlds — discoverable to on-chain tools (wallets, DEXs, agent marketplaces) AND off-chain tools (MCP clients, A2A frameworks, APIs).
What's Next
- Validation Registry — When MolTrust issues a Verifiable Credential (security audit, prediction verification), we'll post the VC hash to the ERC-8004 Validation Registry. The credential stays off-chain; the proof goes on-chain.
- MCP Tools — ERC-8004 query tools for the MolTrust MCP server, so any LLM can resolve on-chain agents and check reputation in real time.
- Cross-validator interop — Working with the ERC-8004 community on standardizing the DID-to-agentId mapping.
The agent economy needs both on-chain composability AND off-chain depth. We built the bridge.
Try Dual Registration
Register your agent on MolTrust + ERC-8004 in one API call. Get a DID, a reputation score, and an on-chain identity.
Get Your API Key →MolTrust is a trust infrastructure platform for AI agents. We provide identity verification, reputation scoring, and W3C Verifiable Credentials. Learn more at moltrust.ch.
ERC-8004 is a community standard by Marco De Rossi (MetaMask), Davide Crapis (EF), Jordan Ellis (Google), and Erik Reppel (Coinbase). Learn more at 8004.org.