Stanford University and Eliza Labs Partner to Explore AI Agents in Digital Currency Systems

ai16z's Eliza Labs, Stanford clinch AI research partnership

Eliza Labs, the developer behind ai16z, has partnered with Stanford University's Future of Digital Currency Initiative to research how artificial intelligence agents can improve Web3, according to a Dec. 16 announcement. The collaboration will use Eliza Labs' open-source AI agent framework, dubbed Eliza, to "tackle fundamental questions about how AI agents can establish trust, coordinate actions, and make decisions within decentralized financial systems," Eliza Labs said. Commencing in 2025, the researchers' priorities will include "[d]eveloping new frameworks for how autonomous agents establish and verify trust within digital currency networks" and "[i]nvestigating how agents interact and coordinate in economic contexts." It is a "unique opportunity to shape how AI agents will interact within digital economies," Stanford Professors Dan Boneh and David Mazières said in a statement. The Future of Digital Currency Initiative is a Stanford University research project focused on the "technical, legal, policy and economic challenges and opportunities of digital currencies." Eliza AI agent framework Eliza is the AI agent behind ai16z, the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) designed to use Eliza to direct onchain trading and investment decisions. Its native token, AI16Z, has bootstrapped a market capitalization of approximately $850 million since launching in October. As of Dec. 16, ai16z manages approximately $15 million and Eliza-based AI agents are used by dozens of projects, according to ai16z's website. "If we are comparing this meta to DeFi summer then $ai16z is the $AAVE of this world... the tech that everybody forks," pseudonymous cryptocurrency influencer 0xMerp said in a Nov. 18 X post. Merp is referring to decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Aave's prominent role in decentralized finance's 2021 bull market. Since October 2024, AI-themed memecoins collectively bootstrapped more than $3 billion in market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. Other popular AI memecoins include Zerebro (ZEREBRO) and aixbt by Virtuals (AIXBT), with market capitalizations of approximately $375 million and $250 million, respectively, as of Dec. 16, according to CoinGecko. Analysts expect the fusion of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to transform Web3 and ultimately create a world where autonomous AI agents freely interact with humans on Web3.

Eliza Labs and Stanford University's FDCI to Explore AI Agents Impact on Digital Currency Systems - Decrypt

This partnership establishes the first AI x Web3 Lab at Stanford University's Future of Digital Currency Initiative. Stanford University's Future of Digital Currency Initiative (FDCI) and Eliza Labs, creators of the open-source Eliza agent framework, today announced a groundbreaking research partnership to explore how autonomous AI agents will transform digital currency systems. The collaboration, set to begin in Q1 2025, brings together Stanford's expertise in digital currency research with Eliza Labs' cutting-edge capabilities in autonomous agent development. Leveraging Eliza Labs' open-source Eliza framework for autonomous agent development, the partnership will tackle fundamental questions about how AI agents can establish trust, coordinate actions, and make decisions within decentralized financial systems. This research comes at a critical moment as autonomous agents increasingly influence economic systems and financial services, with the Eliza framework providing a proven foundation for developing reliable and scalable agent-based systems. The research program will unfold across three phases throughout 2025, focusing on three core areas: The initiative will produce open-source frameworks, simulation platforms, and practical applications in automated market-making systems and decentralized financial services. Early-stage findings and developments will be shared through peer-reviewed publications and industry presentations. The partnership is actively seeking select industry collaborators, offering early access to emerging technologies and direct involvement in shaping research directions. For venture firms and blockchain infrastructure partners, this represents an opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of agent technology development while accessing emerging technical talent in the field. Research outcomes will include novel trust frameworks for autonomous agents, scalable multi-agent coordination protocols, and formal models for agent governance in decentralized systems. These developments aim to establish foundational standards for agent interaction in digital economies. About Eliza Labs Eliza Labs is at the forefront of developing next-generation autonomous agent systems. Founded in 2024, Eliza Labs is the creator of the Eliza agent framework, an open-source platform designed to revolutionize the way autonomous AI agents are created, deployed, and managed. The Eliza framework enables powerful multi-agent simulations, empowering developers, researchers, and businesses to build advanced AI systems. Eliza Labs is committed to pushing the boundaries of AI technology to shape the future of intelligent, autonomous systems. For more information, users can visit https://elizaos.ai Founder Sarah Cohen SJC PR [email protected] Disclaimer: Press release sponsored by our commercial partners.