Ethereum Aims to Be the Backbone of AI's Decentralized Machine Economy

The Ethereum Foundation has launched the dAI Team, a dedicated initiative to position Ethereum as the foundational settlement and coordination layer for artificial intelligence (AI) agents and the emerging "machine economy," according to a research scientist at the foundation. The team, led by Davide Crapis, aims to address two primary goals: enabling AI agents to transact and coordinate autonomously without intermediaries, and fostering a decentralized AI stack to avoid reliance on centralized platforms title1^[1]. This move aligns with Ethereum's broader strategy to expand its role beyond traditional decentralized finance (DeFi) and into next-generation use cases.

The dAI Team's efforts are framed as a continuation of Ethereum's 2025 restructuring, which emphasized ecosystem acceleration and enterprise outreach. By leveraging Ethereum's neutrality, verifiability, and censorship resistance, the foundation seeks to create a trustless environment for AI agents to interact. The team is also developing the ERC-8004 standard, which will allow AI agents to be discoverable, verifiable, and transactable across the Ethereum ecosystem. Finalization of this standard is expected by November 2025, with a presentation at the Devconnect conference in Buenos Aires title1^[1].

Ethereum's role as a "global settlement layer" has gained traction as layer-2 (L2) networks like Arbitrum and Base handle a growing share of DeFi activity. While Ethereum's layer-1 (L1) has seen a 44% decline in fees collected in August compared to the previous month, L2s boast over $35 billion in total value locked (TVL) combined title2^[2]. Proponents argue that Ethereum's security and institutional adoption—evidenced by tokenized funds from firms like Franklin Templeton and BlackRock—underscore its foundational role in crypto finance. The network's capacity to settle high-value transactions and support institutional activity, even as L2s handle everyday DeFi, reinforces its dual-layer architecture title2^[2].

However, Ethereum faces immediate scalability challenges. As of mid-September, 2.5 million ETH (worth $11.25 billion) was awaiting exit from the validator set, with wait times exceeding 46 days. This bottleneck, exacerbated by security incidents like the NPM supply-chain attack and the SwissBorg breach, has slowed validator churn and raised concerns about network flexibility. The churn limit, which restricts validator entry and exit to 256 ETH per epoch (6.4 minutes), has become a point of contention as stakers seek to capitalize on ETH's 160% price rally since April title2^[2].

Despite these hurdles, analysts suggest Ethereum's infrastructure advancements could drive long-term value. The upcoming Fusaka upgrade, set to implement PeerDAS, is projected to increase blob capacity 8x to 48 blobs per block, enhancing data availability for L2s. Combined with a 100x gas limit increase proposed under EIP-9698, Ethereum's ecosystem could achieve 100,000 transactions per second (TPS), rivaling non-EVM chains like Solana . These upgrades, coupled with the dAI Team's focus on AI integration, position Ethereum to compete in a broader market where blockchain and AI convergence is accelerating .

Price forecasts for ETH remain mixed. While some analysts predict an average of $4,551 by year-end and a potential peak of $4,800 in 2025, longer-term projections range from $38,150 to $49,492 by 2031 title1^[1]. The token's performance is tied to factors like DeFi adoption, L2 scaling, and institutional interest, though volatility and regulatory uncertainty remain risks title1^[1].

The Ethereum Foundation's strategic pivot toward AI and machine economy applications highlights its ambition to remain at the forefront of blockchain innovation. By addressing both technical scalability and emerging use cases, the network aims to solidify its position as a critical infrastructure layer for the next phase of digital finance.