Davide Crapis is a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation who specializes in protocol economics and the intersection of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI). He is a member of the foundation's Robust Incentives Group (RIG) and its dAI Team, contributing to research on fee markets, Maximal Extractable Value (MEV), and the integration of AI agents into the Ethereum ecosystem. ^{[1] [6] [2]}

Career

Before his work at the Ethereum Foundation, Crapis built a career in data science, machine learning (ML), and product development. His early experience includes a role as a Research Fellow at the Innocenzo Gasparini Institute from 2009 to 2010, where he focused on policy analysis using logistic regression models. He then spent four years, from 2012 to 2016, at Columbia Business School as a researcher and instructor in analytics, operations, and ML, publishing three papers in top journals and conferences. During this period, he also interned as an Applied Scientist at Nomis Solutions in 2015, building ML models to analyze consumer sensitivity to interest rates.

After leaving Lyft in 2021, Crapis pursued independent projects at the intersection of AI and blockchain. From July 2021 to April 2022, this work included building an automated system for personalized e-commerce offers and creating an AI product with a new blockchain protocol for programmable payments. In 2022, he was a member of South Park Commons, working on large language models (LLMs) and blockchain. From March 2024 to May 2025, he was an early co-founder at PIN AI, where he co-led the startup's initial phase, focusing on product ideation and design, raising $10 million from investors, and hiring a team of over 20 people before stepping down to pursue decentralized AI projects.

Lyft

In 2016, Crapis joined Lyft, where he held several roles over five years. He began as a Data Scientist, building the company's first algorithmic incentive allocation platform. As a Senior Data Scientist, he designed and launched Lyft’s first real-time driver pricing system, a technology that was deployed nationwide, credited as a core component of the company's IPO, and awarded multiple patents. He was later promoted to Driver Marketplace Lead and Staff Scientist, where he managed a team of over 20 scientists specializing in ML, operations research, and economics. In this role, he directed projects in prediction, optimization, and causal inference and oversaw the allocation of billions of dollars in incentives.

Ethereum Foundation

Crapis works as a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, where his responsibilities include conducting and coordinating applied research and development on the economics of the Ethereum protocol. Within the foundation, he is associated with the Robust Incentives Group (RIG), a team focused on ensuring the economic security and efficiency of the protocol. Through RIG, he has been involved in publishing "RIG Open Problems" (ROPs), which are research challenges designed to fund teams to solve specific issues. One such initiative he promoted was ROP-12, titled "Credible LLM Markets and AI-MEV," which was the first ROP centered on creating blockchain infrastructure for AI. ^{[2] [1]}

dAI Team

In September 2025, Crapis announced he was a member of the newly formed dAI Team at the Ethereum Foundation. The team's stated mission is to establish Ethereum as the primary settlement and coordination layer for AI agents and the broader machine economy. His work in this area includes developing standards and integrations to facilitate the onboarding of AI agents onto the Ethereum network. In August 2025, he presented on this topic at the Google Web3: ZK & AI Summit. Beyond his research role, Crapis occasionally invests in and advises projects that align with his vision for an "internet of value," operating on a principle of engaging only in "positive sum relationships." ^{[6] [1]}

Research and Publications

Crapis's research primarily focuses on the economic mechanisms that underpin the Ethereum network. He has made numerous contributions on the Ethereum Research forum, where he has been an active member since February 2023 and was recognized with the "New User of the Month" award shortly after joining for the quality of his initial posts. His work is often supported by simulations, such as the Jupyter notebook he published on GitHub to model the fee market for EIP-4844. His research topics have generated engagement from other prominent Ethereum researchers, including Tim Beiko, Dankrad Feist, and Justin Drake. ^[5]

His main areas of research include:

• Protocol Economics: Analyzing the core economic components of Ethereum, such as fee markets, blockspace allocation, and the impact of protocol upgrades. He authored a detailed analysis of the EIP-4844 fee market and explored concerns related to latency and transaction ordering in blockspace markets. ^{[5] [1]}
• Layer 2 Economics: Crapis developed a framework he termed "Rollup Economics 2.0" to analyze the value flows and economic models of a mature ecosystem of Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions, or rollups. ^{[6] [1]}
• Crypto x AI: A significant portion of his recent work explores the practical applications of integrating AI with blockchain technology. He has articulated this vision in a series of posts titled "The Internet of Agents," which outlines a future where autonomous AI agents use blockchains for coordination and economic settlement. This research forms the basis of his work with the Ethereum Foundation's dAI Team. ^{[6] [1]}
• Maximal Extractable Value (MEV): He has researched methods for creating a more MEV-resilient Ethereum, addressing the value that can be extracted from transaction ordering by block producers. ^[1]

Selected Works

Crapis has authored numerous articles and research posts on platforms like the Ethereum Research forum and his personal Notion page. His publications cover topics ranging from the history of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) to technical analyses of Ethereum's economic mechanisms.

A selection of his published works includes:

• "A Brief History of DAOs" (January 2025)
• "The Internet of Agents — Part 2" (January 2025)
• "Execution Auctions as an Alternative to Execution Tickets" (June 2024), co-authored with Jonah Burian
• "The Internet of Agents" (March 2024)
• "Economic Analysis of Execution Tickets" (March 2024), co-authored with Jonah Burian
• "Rollups are Real — Rollup Economics 2.0" (August 2023)
• "Latency in Blockchains and Ethereum L2 Migration" (July 2023)
• "MEV Resilient Ethereum" (March 2023)
• "EIP-4844 Fee Market Analysis" (March 2023)
• "Latency arms race concerns in blockspace markets" (March 2023)
• "Approximating User Welfare and Surplus with Transaction Data" (February 2023)
• "Guide to Ethereum Economics: Introduction" (January 2023)
• "Dynamic Pricing to Sustain Marketplace Balance" (November 2020)

These works represent his contributions to public research on Ethereum's economic design and future development. ^{[1] [5]}