We are welcoming you to our weekly digest! Here, we discuss the latest trends and advancements in account abstraction, chain abstraction and everything related, as well as bring some insights from Etherspot’s kitchen.
The latest news we'll cover:
- PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs Push Ethereum Into a New Network Era
- ERC-8004 Moves Toward Mainnet With Updated On-Chain Agent Trust
- Ambire Lets Developers Plug Any Bundler Into ERC-4337 Flows
- BlackRock Backs Ethereum as Stablecoin Settlement Standard by 2026
Please fasten your belts!
PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs Push Ethereum Into a New Network Era
Vitalik Buterin outlined how the combination of PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs marks a structural shift for Ethereum, moving it beyond incremental scaling and into a fundamentally new class of decentralized network.
Buterin framed the shift by comparing Ethereum to earlier peer-to-peer systems. BitTorrent achieved massive bandwidth without consensus, while Bitcoin achieved strong decentralization and consensus, but at low bandwidth due to full replication. With PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs, Ethereum is combining decentralization, consensus, and high bandwidth in one system, something he described as solving the scalability trilemma with live code rather than theory.
PeerDAS allows validators to sample data availability instead of downloading all data, significantly increasing capacity while keeping hardware requirements stable. ZK-EVMs are described as alpha-stage: performance is already production-quality, with remaining work focused on safety. PeerDAS is already active on mainnet, while ZK-EVMs are expected to see initial validator usage starting in 2026.
Buterin outlined a multi-year roadmap following this milestone. In 2026, Ethereum should see large gas-limit increases that do not depend on ZK-EVMs, enabled by mechanisms such as BALs and ePBS, alongside the first opportunities to run ZK-EVM nodes. Between 2026 and 2028, further changes are expected, including gas repricing, state structure adjustments, and moving execution payloads into blobs to safely support higher limits. From roughly 2027 to 2030, ZK-EVMs are expected to become the primary way blocks are validated, enabling much larger throughput increases.
A third component of this vision is distributed block building. Buterin described a long-term goal where full blocks are never assembled in a single place, though he noted this is not immediately required. In the near term, he argued for distributing meaningful block-building authority as much as possible, either through in-protocol approaches such as expanding FOCIL or through decentralized builder marketplaces. This, he said, would reduce censorship risk, limit centralized interference in transaction inclusion, and improve geographic fairness across the network.
ERC-8004 Moves Toward Mainnet With Updated On-Chain Agent Trust
ERC-8004, a proposal positioning Ethereum as a coordination layer for autonomous software agents, has published a major update moving the standard from v0.4 to v1.0, outlining a concrete roadmap toward mainnet deployment. The update is based on lessons from testnet deployments and introduces breaking changes that require full migration.
The proposal continues to define three core on-chain registries, Identity, Reputation and Validation, designed to let agents establish verifiable identities, accumulate reputation through client feedback, and submit work for independent verification. In v1.0, the architecture is significantly refined: Identity and Reputation registries are finalized and already deployed, while the Validation Registry remains under active discussion with the TEE community ahead of a later rollout.
A key change in v1.0 is the migration of agent identity to ERC-721 NFTs, replacing the earlier custom identity model. Each agent is now represented as a standard NFT with a tokenURI pointing to a structured registration file, improving composability with existing Ethereum tooling and marketplaces. Reputation is also strengthened by moving scores on-chain and requiring cryptographic authorization for feedback using EIP-191 (EOAs) or ERC-1271 (smart contract wallets), enabling contracts to directly query and reason about agent reputation.
This update intersects closely with Account Abstraction. By natively supporting ERC-1271 signatures and treating smart contract wallets as first-class citizens, ERC-8004 aligns with AA’s goal of making contract accounts the default interface for users and agents alike. In practice, AA-based wallets can manage agent identities, authorize feedback, and rotate keys or policies without changing addresses, critical for long-lived autonomous agents.
Ambire Lets Developers Plug Any Bundler Into ERC-4337 Flows
Ambire has introduced per-network custom bundler configuration in v5.34.6, allowing users and developers to specify a different ERC-4337 bundler URL for each network directly from wallet settings.
The update is aimed at giving ERC-4337 developers and bundler operators more room to experiment, making it possible to broadcast user operations through alternative bundlers without switching wallets or losing existing abstractions.
According to the announcement, Ambire Paymaster remains fully compatible with custom bundlers, meaning users retain gas abstraction even when routing userOps through third-party infrastructure. This applies to both smart accounts and EOA accounts delegated via EIP-7702, with all smart-account transactions and non-ETH-paid 7702 transactions treated as user operations.
Ambire currently uses EntryPoint v0.7.0, noting that supporting paymasters across multiple EntryPoint versions is operationally complex due to deposit management and signer permissions. Future expansion will depend on developer demand and real-world usage.
The team also highlighted ecosystem fragmentation issues, particularly around gas price handling, as bundlers differ in their implementations and APIs. Ambire is calling for closer coordination across bundler providers, including demos using Biconomy, with the goal of eventually enabling seamless use of any bundler within the wallet.
BlackRock Backs Ethereum as Stablecoin Settlement Standard by 2026
BlackRock has identified Ethereum as the leading candidate to become the global settlement layer for stablecoins by 2026, citing its maturity, decentralization, and ability to support institutional-grade finance.
The report highlights that Ethereum already underpins a significant share of today’s stablecoin activity, with deep liquidity, a robust validator set, and a proven track record of uptime and security. BlackRock executives argue that these characteristics make Ethereum better suited than alternative blockchains for large-scale financial settlement, especially as regulatory clarity improves and institutions require predictable execution guarantees.
CryptoSlate notes that Ethereum’s roadmap is a key factor in this assessment. Ongoing upgrades aimed at reducing costs, increasing throughput, and improving data availability are positioned to make stablecoin transfers faster and cheaper without sacrificing decentralization. These improvements are particularly relevant for high-volume settlement use cases, where reliability and finality matter more than experimental performance gains.
The article also points to BlackRock’s broader digital-asset strategy as context. The firm has already launched tokenized products on Ethereum and continues to deepen its exposure to on-chain infrastructure. This practical deployment experience reinforces Ethereum’s role not just as a crypto-native network, but as a neutral settlement layer that can integrate with traditional finance workflows.
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