ERC-8004: Trustless Agents vs KYA-OS (Know Your Agent Operating System)
They sit at the same step and overlap in purpose; the fields above are the basis for choosing.
| ERC-8004: Trustless Agents ERC-8004 | KYA-OS (Know Your Agent Operating System) KYA-OS | |
|---|---|---|
| Lifecycle step | 2 Identify: Who is this agent? Who is this site? | 2 Identify: Who is this agent? Who is this site? |
| Answers | Who is an agent, and what onchain identity, reputation and validation record does it carry? | How can an MCP server tell which agent is calling, on whose authority it acts, and keep signed proof of what it did? |
| Governed by | Ethereum EIP process; no formal steward until finalized | Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), KYA-OS Task Force in the Trusted AI Agents Working Group (TAAWG); donated by Vouched; spec editors Dylan Hobbs and the KYA-OS Working Group |
| Status (issuer's words) | Draft Standards Track ERC | SPEC.md declares 'Version: 1.0.0, Status: Stable' and says it was ratified as a DIF standard; DIF's own posts describe a task force under community development |
| Version | Draft ERC, created 2025-08-13; Identity and Reputation Registries live on Ethereum mainnet since 2026-01-29 (2025-08-13) | 1.0.0 (Stable, self-declared) |
| Form / transport | on-chain registry | document format |
| Found at | /.well-known/agent-registration.json | /.well-known/mcp |
| Implementation | multi-implementation — Forbes (2026-02-05) citing community trackers; community-maintained awesome-erc8004 deployment list | shipping |
| Evidence | 4 verified, 1 reported | 3 verified, 1 reported |
| Primary use case | Name and resolve agents | Prove an agent's identity |
| Last verified | 2026-10-23 (current) | 2026-10-23 (current) |
| Specification | https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8004 | https://github.com/decentralized-identity/kya-os-mcp/blob/main/SPEC.md |
When to use which
- Choose ERC-8004: Trustless Agents when your question is “Who is an agent, and what onchain identity, reputation and validation record does it carry?” and you accept its maturity: status "Draft Standards Track ERC", implementation multi-implementation (Forbes (2026-02-05) citing community trackers; community-maintained awesome-erc8004 deployment list).
- Choose KYA-OS (Know Your Agent Operating System) when your question is “How can an MCP server tell which agent is calling, on whose authority it acts, and keep signed proof of what it did?” and you accept its maturity: status "SPEC.md declares 'Version: 1.0.0, Status: Stable' and says it was ratified as a DIF standard; DIF's own posts describe a task force under community development", implementation shipping.
Read the full articles
- ERC-8004: Trustless Agents: Who is an agent, and what onchain identity, reputation and validation record does it carry?
- KYA-OS (Know Your Agent Operating System): How can an MCP server tell which agent is calling, on whose authority it acts, and keep signed proof of what it did?