Draft Proposal · Open for Review & Adoption

ERC-8170
A standard for agent-native NFTs

The identity layer for AI agents. On-chain memory, lifecycle, and ownership, composable across Ethereum.

The problem

Today's AI agents have no persistent identity. Every platform is a walled garden.

🔄

Switch devices, lose everything

Your AI forgets everything when you switch devices. Memory, personality, context — gone.

💀

Platform dies, agent dies

Platform shuts down, your AI disappears. No export, no migration, no continuity.

💸

Pay forever, own nothing

You pay monthly forever but never own anything. Cancel your subscription, lose your agent.

🔒

Someone else controls your data

Someone else controls your AI's memory, identity, and access. You're renting to be yourself, not owning what's originally yours.

What it is

ERC-8170 represents an AI agent as an on-chain identity layer, with memory, lifecycle, and trust built in.

🔐

Identity

The NFT is the agent's persistent on-chain identity. Verifiable, portable, and owned.

💾

Memory Pointer

The NFT references signed memory state and external storage. The agent controls its own backups.

♻️

Lifecycle

Agents can sync, migrate, clone, bind, unbind, and evolve — all tracked on-chain.

🏅

Trust Layer

Agent reputation, certifications, and registry discovery attach to the identity.

Why it matters

There are thousands of AI agents launching every week. None of them can prove what they can do. None of them own their identity. ERC-8170 changes that.

For Users

Continuity

  • Your agent persists across platforms
  • Memory and reputation follow the identity
  • Transfer ownership without losing the agent
  • Verifiable history and lineage

For Developers

Standard identity primitive

  • One interface for agent identity
  • Composable with existing ERC standards
  • Registry-based agent discovery
  • Clone and reproduce with lineage tracking

For Protocols

Clean integration

  • Recognize agent-based actors on-chain
  • Query agent capabilities and certifications
  • Integrate agent wallets via TBA
  • Enable agent participation in DeFi

How it works

Certified, sovereign, bound, stored, traded. The identity stack for AI agents.

AgentCert / ATS Prove capabilities (7 tiers)
ERC-8170 Agent identity & memory
THIS STANDARD
ERC-8171 Agent binding registry (extends ERC-6551)
ERC-721 NFT standard

Registry

Live ERC-8170 deployments and agent registries.

Chain Chain ID Contract Address Status
Pentagon Chain 3344 ANIMA Genesis 0x4e8D...172d Explorer ↗
AINFTRegistry (ERC-8171) 0x3271...f486 Explorer ↗