As artificial intelligence reshapes everything from finance to cybersecurity, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) is carving out a strategy for how the world’s second-largest blockchain fits into that future.

Instead of trying to fuse blockchains and AI at the level of raw computation — something Ethereum was never designed to handle — the EF sees the network playing a different role: acting as a coordination and verification layer in an increasingly AI-mediated world.

Davide Crapis, the AI lead at the EF, argues that the motivation is as philosophical as it is technical. More and more digital activity is being handled by AI systems, whether it’s answering questions, executing trades, screening applications or writing software. If those systems are controlled by centralized entities, the values that underpin much of the crypto movement — decentralization, self-sovereignty, censorship resistance and privacy — could erode.

“If AI doesn’t have the properties we care about — self-sovereignty, censorship resistance, privacy — and then we use AI for everything, basically no one has those properties anymore,” he said to CoinDesk in an interview at NEARCON 2026.

In that sense, Ethereum’s AI push is less about competing with OpenAI or Google on model size and more about ensuring that as AI becomes the interface to the internet, it doesn’t quietly recentralize power.

The EF’s strategy rests on two broad fronts. The first is what Crapis calls decentralized AI coordination. As autonomous AI agents — software programs capable of carrying out tasks on their own — become more common, they will need ways to identify themselves, build trust and exchange payments. Ethereum, he argues, is well-suited to provide that infrastructure.

“Ethereum functions as a public, governance-less verification layer for AI,” he said.

In practical terms, that means the heavy computing work of AI remains off-chain, on traditional servers. But Ethereum can help agents discover one another through public registries, assess reputation through transparent histories, route payments and anchor cryptographic proofs that verify outcomes. Crapis likens it to a decentralized version of Google Reviews combined with payment rails.

The EF has been involved in developing standards to formalize this ecosystem, including a protocol for agent identity and trust, known as ERC-8004. According to Crapis, these standards are gaining traction beyond Ethereum, signaling that the coordination layer for AI agents may become blockchain-based even if the AI itself is not.

The second focus area centers on bringing Ethereum’s core principles — such as privacy, openness, censorship resistance, and security — into the world of AI. Crapis refers to this effort internally as “Props AI,” shorthand for the values the Ethereum ecosystem has historically prioritized.

Privacy is a major part of that conversation. Interacting with centralized AI services can gradually generate detailed user profiles based on queries, usage patterns and behavior.

From Ethereum’s perspective, the challenge is to design AI systems that allow users to retain greater control over their data and identity. One approach is to encourage more AI processing to occur locally on users’ devices whenever possible, reducing the amount of information that needs to be sent to centralized servers.

The broader goal is to ensure that as AI becomes embedded in everyday digital interactions, individuals still retain meaningful control over their data and how it is used, rather than handing that power entirely to large platforms.

“We want to create a world where users retain as much data and power as possible,” Crapis said. “We just don’t give it to operators.”

Security concerns also underpin the strategy. As AI systems grow more capable, they are likely to automate and scale cyberattacks in ways that strain existing defenses. Crapis predicts a near future in which AI systems can convincingly impersonate humans, undermining traditional authentication methods.

“We will probably see hacks orchestrated by AI,” he said. “The old security models break when AI can impersonate a human.”

In that environment, cryptographic keys may become more important. Control of a private key is mathematically verifiable and does not depend on human judgment. Crapis frames Ethereum’s long-term role in stark terms.

“In a world where AI is in the wild, we want Ethereum to be the place with the big lock,” he said. “If I have the keys, I still have power.”

Crapis described the AI initiative that the EF is doing as one of several major priorities rather than the dominant one. Still, the move reflects a growing recognition within the crypto industry that AI will shape the next phase of the internet. If that future is mediated by intelligent agents rather than human clicks, the question becomes who controls the rails those agents run on.

Ethereum’s bet is that even if it doesn’t power the brains of AI, it can help govern the environment in which those brains operate, anchoring identity, coordinating payments and preserving user control.

Read more: Ethereum Foundation Starts New AI Team to Support Agentic Payments

Centralized exchange (CEX) and wallet app Backpack announced today, March 4, that it will offer early access to initial public offerings on-chain in partnership with Superstate.

Currently, Backpack is offering users access to a waitlist for the new offering. The exchange — which was founded by former employees of the now defunct FTX and Alameda — said in its announcement that it’s providing access to IPO shares “prior to open market trading.”

The IPO shares will be available on the Solana blockchain and give traders direct ownership of equity, the firm noted in its announcement.

The move expands on Backpack’s existing partnership with Superstate, the tokenization firm founded by Compound co-founder Robert Leshner. The two firms previously announced that Backpack had integrated Superstate’s on-chain equity platform Opening Bell to let the CEX’s users trade on-chain versions of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-registered stocks, as The Defiant reported.

Superstate first announced back in December that it will let companies issue new shares directly on-chain, on both Ethereum and Solana.

The cryptocurrency fundraising platform Giving Block reported that it had seen a surge in donations with stablecoins in 2025 compared with previous years.

In its annual report released on Wednesday, the Giving Block said there had been a “major shift” in donations using stablecoins, particularly with Ripple USD (RLUSD) and Circle’s USDC (USDC). The platform reported that it had facilitated more than $100 million in crypto donations in 2025, with more than $32 million coming through USDC, RLUSD, Tether’s USDt (USDT), Dai (DAI), and other stablecoins.

“The trend is clear: stablecoins are no longer a side story in Crypto Philanthropy—they’re becoming one of its fastest-growing channels,” said the report.

Notably, however, it was that $25 million in RLUSD may have come directly from Ripple Labs, which pledged the funds to the nonprofit organizations DonorsChoose and Teach For America in May. The Giving Block projected in its 2025 annual report that it could see up to $2.5 billion in total crypto donations.

Related: Spanish Red Cross launches privacy-first blockchain aid platform

Givepact, another crypto donation platform, reported in July that stablecoins had “rapidly become the top donated asset in crypto philanthropy,” citing data from the Giving Block. The platform said that the payment stablecoin bill signed into law in the US in 2025 elevated the assets to “cash-equivalent” status, which “eliminates lingering concerns about issuer solvency, particularly for nonprofits relying on predictable donation value.”

“Even during bear markets, donors are willing to give in stablecoins — helping nonprofits avoid volatility and process donations faster,” said Givepact. “With the GENIUS Act now in place, this trend is accelerating. Stablecoins are no longer just convenient — they’re federally recognized and institutionally trusted.”

Stablecoin yield under scrutiny in US market structure bill

As the US Senate considers legislation to establish comprehensive market structure for digital assets, the issue of stablecoin rewards has divided many industry leaders and lawmakers. The Senate Banking Committee has not yet rescheduled a markup to address the bill after a January postponement, while the White House has had three meetings with industry leaders to discuss how the government might handle stablecoin yield.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump took to social media to urge banks not to hold market structure “hostage” over digital assets. Many crypto companies and interest groups oppose a ban on stablecoin rewards in the bill, whose text has yet to be finalized before a potential vote in the full Senate.

Magazine: Bitcoin may face hard fork over any attempt to freeze Satoshi’s coins