AI, Surveillance, and the Fight for Digital Sovereignty | Near's Illia Polosukhin
What happens when powerful AI requires an ID, governments can restrict access by country, and your most private data flows through centralized systems? NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin joins David to explain why AI export controls could fracture the internet, how nationalized AI could become a surveillance layer, and why decentralized, user-owned AI may be the only real alternative. They also unpack Ironclaw, confidential inference, private agents, and NEAR’s push to make AI and assets fully sovereign.
---
📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium
---
BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET
https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast
🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE
https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS
🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW
https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download
🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD
https://bankless.cc/brix
📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0
https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks
🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS
https://thedefireport.io/bankless
---
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
3:47 Pandora’s Box Opens
6:03 AI Meets Government
7:16 Decentralizing the Stack
8:51 Why Ban Fable?
11:18 Internet Balkanization
13:57 KYC for AI?
18:43 Nationalized Models
21:07 Building Private AI
26:30 Agent Marketplace
30:26 User-Owned Alignment
35:28 Winning Against Giants
40:19 Regulation Fuels Crypto
42:24 Global AI Adoption
45:05 Compute Is the Bottleneck
49:00 Enterprise Use Cases
51:39 Confidential TVL Explained
55:25 Full Sovereign Mode
---
RESOURCES
Illia Polosukhin
https://x.com/ilblackdragon
Near Protocol
https://www.near.org/
---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
The Chopping Block: Zcash Infinite Mint Bug + AI Hackers vs Formal Verification + NEAR's Agent Vision
Mert and Illia autopsy a brutal weekend in crypto: Saylor's $3M test sale that taught him there's no sell button, the Zcash bug Claude found that could've minted unlimited counterfeit ZEC, formal verification as the bulwark against AI attackers, and whether NEAR's agentic commerce vision is real.
Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week we've got two heavy hitters: NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin and Helius founder Mert Mumtaz.
We kick things off with the weekend market meltdown -- Saylor sold 32 BTC for the first time in four years, STRC is trading below par, and Mert argues the real damage is that Saylor sucks all the air out of the room for actual crypto innovation. Then we get into the biggest story of the week: a critical bug discovered in Zcash's Orchard ZK circuit using Claude Opus 4.8 that could have allowed infinite counterfeit minting inside the shielded pool. Mert walks us through the emergency soft fork, the Ironwood migration, and why formal verification is about to become table stakes. Illia makes the case that AI-powered attackers have a permanent asymmetric advantage and that we need real-time on-chain detection systems to survive. Tom coins the analogy of the episode: we're moving from building boats to building spaceships. We close with Illia's pitch for NEAR's agent commerce vision – $240M in single-day volume, private intents, and the claim that agent-to-agent trustless commerce is already live – while Mert remains a friendly skeptic. Let's get into it.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ Mert, Co-founder & CEO at Helius
⭐️ Illia Polosukhin, Co-founder of NEAR Protocol
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:17 Weekend Crypto Meltdown & Bitcoin Crash
02:52 Saylor, STRC & the DAT Death Spiral Fears
11:51 "No Sell Button" — Saylor's Lesson Learned
13:14 Zcash Bug: 50% Crash Explained
20:30 The Fix: Ironwood Pool & Formal Verification
23:11 AI vs Crypto Security: The Attacker Advantage
27:21 What Is Formal Verification?
30:07 Spaceship-Grade Smart Contract Security
31:36 OPSEC, Oracles & Anomaly Detection
36:08 Cypherpunk Dilemma: Stop the Hack or Not?
38:37 Will DeFi Survive? Long Math
42:49 NEAR's AI Agents & Intents Vision
48:43 Is Agentic Commerce Real? Mert's Skepticism
Disclosures
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Uneasy Money: Illia Polosukhin on Why Onchain Commerce Needs Confidentiality
Illia Polosukhin, founder of NEAR and co-author of 'Attention Is All You Need,' on why confidentiality will let crypto become daily commerce — plus, some Near lore.
========================================================
Thank you to our sponsors!
Multichain Advisors: Get help navigating TGEs, go‑to‑market, BD and partnerships, capital markets advisory, PR, media placements, KOL activations and more at multichainadv.com.
Coinbase One: Get 20% off the first year of your Coinbase One annual plan at coinbase.com/unchained.
========================================================
Before co-founding NEAR Protocol, Illia Polosukhin was on the eight-person Google Brain team that wrote the transformer paper — the architecture behind every large language model running today.
He never mentioned it. When Kain Warwick found out two weeks ago, via a crypto AI chatbot, his reaction was: you have to be kidding me.
That backstory sets the tone for a conversation that moves from how transformers actually came together, to why confidentiality is what unlocks on-chain commerce for real businesses, and what NEAR is doing to keep criminals off its network without becoming a surveillance layer.
The hosts also get into the Ethereum Foundation's identity crisis, why Illia thinks decentralization is a tool and not a goal, and what the economy looks like when AI handles execution and blockchain handles coordination.
Host:
Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
Taylor Monahan, Security Expert
Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins
Guest:
Illia Polosukhin — Co-Founder, NEAR Protocol - https://x.com/ilblackdragon
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Illia Polosukhin: Why AI Agents Are Still Useless (And What Fixes Them) | NEAR Founder on IronClaw
NEAR founder and Transformer co-author Illia Polosukhin joins us to break down why today’s AI agents still fall short, what’s missing to make them actually useful, and how IronClaw could unlock secure, private, autonomous AI.
We also explore Illia’s bigger thesis: AI becomes the interface, blockchains become the backend, and both reshape how humans, agents, and digital markets interact.
------
📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium
------
🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET
https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast
🪐GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE
https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast
🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT
https://bankless.cc/bitget
🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS
https://thedefireport.io/bankless
🐇MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN
https://bankless.cc/megaeth
------
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:43 Illia’s AI Journey
8:19 AI x Blockchain Operating Systems
14:40 Will Humans & AIs Use the Same Systems?
18:20 Why Are AI Agents Still Useless?
28:54 AI Agent Privacy Concerns
35:30 IronClaw Privacy
39:21 AI Agent Limitations
47:00 Context Constraints
53:42 Will Small Teams Win?
57:16 Autonomous Agents & Businesses
1:01:00 Digital Life Forms?
1:02:42 e/acc Vs d/acc
1:09:44 Why isn’t AI Crypto-Pilled
1:14:31 Advice for Builders
1:18:30 Closing & Disclaimers
------
RESOURCES
Illia
https://x.com/ilblackdragon
IronClaw
https://agent.near.ai/
NEAR
https://www.near.org/
Attention is All You Need
https://arxiv.org/html/1706.03762v7
------
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
The Chopping Block: AI's Role in Crypto, Agentic Coding, & Citrini Financial Crisis
Explore how AI could reshape crypto and finance, redefining traditional systems and introducing new threats. As AI-powered agents promise efficiency, Haseeb, Tom, Tarun, and guest Illia Polosukhin critique Citrini's controversial predictions on a global financial crisis and consider whether AI might just save or further complicate crypto's role in the economy.
Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto.
Joining us is Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol and contributing author to the original transformers paper that’s revolutionized AI.
Buckle up as we delve into AI’s burgeoning role in the crypto world, dissect the sensational claims from Citrini’s article predicting an AI-triggered financial crisis, and explore the potential of agentic coding in reshaping traditional systems.
Let’s get into it!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ Illia Polosukhin, Co-founder of NEAR Protocol
Disclosures
Links:
THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS by Citrini and Alap Shah
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:06 AI Agents Meet Crypto
08:06 Dark Forest Threat Model
15:31 How Close Are We
18:41 AI Coding Risks in Crypto
27:27 Citrini 2028 Crisis Explained
35:01 Demand Shock Missing Money
37:55 Automation Limits and Human Value
44:13 AI Zero Days and Botnets
51:40 Escrow Courts and Enforcement
56:05 Illia on Vibe Coding Future
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Positive Vision for the Future: Part 2 with Illia Polosukhin of NEAR
In part two of his conversation, Illia Polosukhin, co-author of "Attention Is All You Need" and founder of NEAR Protocol, explores the profound societal and economic implications of AI. He envisions a future where a unified intelligence layer transforms personal computing, AI agents enable direct market connections, and individuals find meaning in niche communities amidst AI-driven abundance. Illia also delves into the ethics of agent-to-agent interactions, where AIs prioritize human interests, and new governance models utilizing AI delegates. This episode offers a concrete, systems-level vision for how AI will reshape our world, from daily life to global governance.
Sponsors:
Google Gemini Notebook LM:
Notebook LM is an AI-first tool that helps you make sense of complex information. Upload your documents and it instantly becomes a personal expert, helping you uncover insights and brainstorm new ideas at https://notebooklm.google.com
Tasklet:
Tasklet is an AI agent that automates your work 24/7; just describe what you want in plain English and it gets the job done. Try it for free and use code COGREV for 50% off your first month at https://tasklet.ai
Linear:
Linear is the system for modern product development. Nearly every AI company you've heard of is using Linear to build products. Get 6 months of Linear Business for free at: https://linear.app/tcr
Shopify:
Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Sponsor: Google Gemini Notebook LM
(00:31) About the Episode
(03:33) AI Transforms Software Development
(14:18) The Future of Work
(18:58) Securing Blockchain with AI (Part 1)
(19:08) Sponsors: Tasklet | Linear
(21:48) Securing Blockchain with AI (Part 2)
(33:03) Vision for an AI Society (Part 1)
(33:55) Sponsor: Shopify
(35:52) Vision for an AI Society (Part 2)
(49:14) Agent Architecture and Alignment
(58:30) Experimenting with AI Governance
(01:06:43) AI Safety and Robustness
(01:16:09) Bio-Security and Open Models
(01:22:56) Coordinating AI Development
(01:28:52) Outro
SOCIAL LINKS:
Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai
Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast
Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk
The Decentralized Future of Private AI with Illia Polosukhin - #749
In this episode, Illia Polosukhin, a co-author of the seminal "Attention Is All You Need" paper and co-founder of Near AI, joins us to discuss his vision for building private, decentralized, and user-owned AI. Illia shares his unique journey from developing the Transformer architecture at Google to building the NEAR Protocol blockchain to solve global payment challenges, and now applying those decentralized principles back to AI. We explore how Near AI is creating a decentralized cloud that leverages confidential computing, secure enclaves, and the blockchain to protect both user data and proprietary model weights. Illia also shares his three-part approach to fostering trust: open model training to eliminate hidden biases and "sleeper agents," verifiability of inference to ensure the model runs as intended, and formal verification at the invocation layer to enforce composable guarantees on AI agent actions. Finally, Illia shares his perspective on the future of open research, the role of tokenized incentive models, and the need for formal verification in building compliance and user trust.
The complete show notes for this episode can be found at https://twimlai.com/go/749.
User-Owned AI: On-Chain Training, Inference, and Agents, with NEAR's Illia Polosukhin
Today Illia Polosukhin, founder of Near Protocol joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss the intersection of AI and blockchain technologies, exploring how decentralized infrastructure can enable "user-owned AI" through privacy-preserving model training, confidential computing, and autonomous agents that operate via smart contracts without centralized control.
Check out our sponsors: Linear, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
Shownotes below brought to you by Notion AI Meeting Notes - try one month for free at: https://notion.com/lp/nathan
Evolution from AI to Blockchain: Near Protocol evolved from an AI project focused on teaching machines to code to a blockchain platform, and now combines both technologies.
Significant User Base: Near Protocol has achieved 50 million monthly active users, demonstrating substantial adoption.
Autonomous AI Agents: Near has developed autonomous AI agents that can operate independently once deployed, including an example of an agent given $10,000 to trade based on Twitter sentiment.
AI-Blockchain Integration: The platform combines decentralized compute for running AI with smart contracts that execute actions, creating truly autonomous systems.
AI in Governance: Near is experimenting with "AI senators" that people can vote for, which then make governance decisions, potentially solving the principal-agent problem in representation.
Jurisdictional Framework: Near is creating infrastructure for jurisdictions and courts to enforce rules on AI agents, essentially putting governance into AI.
Sponsors:
Linear:
Linear is the system for modern product development. Nearly every AI company you've heard of is using Linear to build products. Get 6 months of Linear Business for free at: https://linear.app/tcr
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure:
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is the next-generation cloud that delivers better performance, faster speeds, and significantly lower costs, including up to 50% less for compute, 70% for storage, and 80% for networking. Run any workload, from infrastructure to AI, in a high-availability environment and try OCI for free with zero commitment at https://oracle.com/cognitive
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) About the Episode
(03:58) From Transformers to Blockchain (Part 1)
(17:01) Sponsor: Linear
(18:30) From Transformers to Blockchain (Part 2)
(21:23) Blockchain Security Fundamentals (Part 1)
(33:36) Sponsor: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
(35:00) Blockchain Security Fundamentals (Part 2)
(39:01) Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Solution
(51:11) Confidential Computing Infrastructure
(58:07) User-Owned AI Models
(01:14:47) Marketplace and Governance
(01:18:57) AI-Crypto Synergy Vision
(01:27:50) Autonomous Agents Future
(01:31:22) Outro
Building Open Infrastructure for AI with Illia Polosukhin
Illia Polosukhin is a veteran AI researcher and one of the original authors of the landmark Transformer paper, Attention is All You Need, which he co-authored during his time at Google Research. He has a deep background in machine learning and natural language processing, and has spent over a decade working at the intersection of AI and decentralized technologies. His current venture is called NEAR AI, and He’s focused on building open-source infrastructure, tools, and products for Agentic, privacy-preserving AI systems. He joins the podcast with Kevin Ball to discuss his journey, the origins of the Transformer model, the vision for user-owned AI, document-oriented development, and much more.
Kevin Ball or KBall, is the vice president of engineering at Mento and an independent coach for engineers and engineering leaders. He co-founded and served as CTO for two companies, founded the San Diego JavaScript meetup, and organizes the AI inaction discussion group through Latent Space.
Please click here to see the transcript of this episode.
Sponsorship inquiries: sponsor@softwareengineeringdaily.com
The post Building Open Infrastructure for AI with Illia Polosukhin appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.
Attention isn’t all we need; we need ownership too
NEAR is the blockchain for AI, enabling AI agents to transact freely across networks.
Connect with Illia on LinkedIn and X, and read the original Transformers paper that Illia co-authored in 2017.
Today’s shoutout goes to Populous badge winner Adi Lester for answering the question DataTable - foreach Row, EXCEPT FIRST ONE.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chain Abstraction is NEAR | Illia Polosukhin, Co-Founder
On today's episode we dive into Near Protocol with Co-founder and Near Foundation CEO Illia Polosukhin. Illia details key innovations, like account aggregation, sharding, and chain abstraction, that are aimed at bringing blockchain to a mass consumer base. We also discuss Near's strategic partnerships, challenges in onboarding Web 2.0 companies, and their impressive vision of a decade with over a hundred million monthly users. We then shift focus to AI as we explore user-owned AI, software generation replacing traditional SaaS companies, and the intriguing concept of an 'AI president' in forward-thinking governance. Stay tuned for all of this and much more!
- -
Follow Illia: https://twitter.com/ilblackdragon
Follow Spencer: https://twitter.com/0xpibblez
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw
Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
Wormhole is a decentralized interoperability platform powering multi-chain applications and bridges. It provides developers with access to liquidity and users on over 30 leading blockchain networks, enabling use cases in DeFi, data queries, and governance. The platform is trusted by teams like Uniswap and Circle and, to date, the platform has facilitated the transfer of over 35 billion dollars through over 850 million cross-chain messages.
Claim your unique Wormhole NFT at
https://wormhole.com/empire3-6877
- -
Send your crypto to your PayPal account, swap it for PYUSD, and use it to checkout at millions of stores.
Pay how you want by getting started at:
https://blckwrks.co/PYUSD
- -
Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 institutional conference in crypto, hosted by Blockworks.
Use the link below to learn more, and use EMPIRE10 to get 10% off your ticket! Sign up now because the price goes up every month. See you there!
Learn more + get your ticket here: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2024-london/home
- -
Timestamps:
(01:58) Illia's Return to CEO & NEAR's Recap
(05:55) Focus on Chain Abstraction
(09:41) Evolution of NEAR Sharding
(18:57) Account Aggregation Thesis
(30:11) Modular vs Monolothic Approach
(35:04) DA Landscape
(39:41) Record Consumer Usage
(43:06) Wormhole Ad
(44:32) Paypal Ad
(45:31) Owning Your Data & AI Usecase
(49:43) Onboarding Web2 Companies
(51:58) The Account Aggregation Flow
(57:51) NEAR BD Strategy
(01:04:45) Why does AI matter?
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
What is NEAR Protocol? | A Comprehensive Overview & Future Prospects
Illia Polosukhin is the Co-Founder of NEAR Protocol, which is a sharded, proof-of-stake, Layer 1 blockchain. Originally conceived as an Artificial Intelligence endeavor, NEAR underwent a transformation, pivoting its focus to become a crypto project. We begin our conversation by exploring NEAR's shift into crypto, and later gain deeper insight into NEAR's core principles, underlying technology, the users, builders, as well as anticipated new features in the near future.
Chapters
1:04 Who is Illia Polosukhin?
4:04 NEAR’s design
7:52 Mini Blockchains
9:30 Consensus mechanism
10:29 NEAR token
12:30 Participating in NEAR Network
13:11 Physical shards
18:10 Delegation
19:32 Liquid staking on NEAR
20:50 Goal & Design
26:23 Ideal use cases for NEAR
33:54 Bridging
39:38 Attracting users and builders
44:38 New crosschain mechanism
48:10 Future of Blockchain
54:31 Future of NEAR
59:15 AI run governance
✨ Check out our new website ✨
https://thedefiant.io/
🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀
https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup
🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here
https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha
✊ Follow The Defiant
Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/
Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews
📬 Contact our Newsroom
editorial@thedefiant.io
🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships
sponsors@thedefiant.io
#TheDefiant #DeFi #Decentralized #Finance #Blockchain #Web3
The Intersection of AI and Blockchain, with Transformers author and NEAR founder Illia Polosukhin
More than 25 million users are using NEAR-powered applications. Co-founder of NEAR protocol and Transformers author Illia Polosukhin joins hosts Sarah Guo and Elad Gil to discuss the intersections of crypto and AI technology, what we should expect from AI agents, decentralized data labeling, why AI’s alignment problem is really a human problem, and more.
Show Links:
Illia Polosukhin - Co-founder of NEAR | LinkedIn
NEAR
Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com
Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @ilblackdragon
Show Notes:
(0:00:00) - Blockchain, AI, and Web3 Intersection
(0:06:39) - How We Might Combine Blockchain and AI for Cancer Research
(0:23:35) - Inference and Decentralized Data Labeling
(0:30:13) - AI SaaS Strategic Challenges
(0:38:18) - The Future of Hardware Accelerators
When AI and Blockchain Meet, How Can Each Technology Benefit? - Ep 516
In recent months, ChatGPT, Bard and other new artificial intelligence (AI) products have revolutionized numerous industries. But how this nascent technology can work with crypto and blockchain technology is still relatively unexplored. In this episode, Illia Polosukhin and Jason Warner delve into the transformative potential of AI and crypto coming together.
They explore a wide array of applications, from AIs managing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), to DAOs being used to help open source AIs, to blockchain technology making the inner workings of AIs more transparent.
Tune in to this episode for a deep dive into the fusion of AI and crypto.
Show highlights:
Illia's and Jason’s backgrounds, including how Illia’s work in artificial intelligence (AI) got him into crypto
what AI actually encompasses and how to define it
why Jason says that "it works right now, it's machine learning and if you're raising money, it's AI"
how blockchains can facilitate the provision of resources for training data
the problem of attribution in training AI models
how OpenAI and Midjourney hold a lot of power at the moment, according to Illia
why open source code helps build better AI systems
how LLMs are being used to audit code in the blockchain ecosystem
up to what point AI can be used for crypto trading
why misinformation is a human problem, not an “AI problem,” and how blockchain technology can help solve this issue
how blockchains can be used to verify facts to combat misinformation
whether AI can help mitigate attacks on DeFi protocols
how DAOS and AI can work together and whether AI can coordinate a company
what’s missing in terms of infrastructure for DAOs to thrive with AI
how to structure regulation with this rapidly evolving technology
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
Arbitrum Foundation
TOKEN2049
OKX
Guests:
Illia Polosukhin, cofounder of NEAR.
Previous appearance on The Chopping Block: The Chopping Block: Why AI Will Change the Course of History in Crypto
Jason Warner, founder at Poolside.
Links
Op-ed by Illia: Blockchain can save the media - Blockworks
CoinDesk:
AI Can Generate a Trading Edge in Crypto Markets
10 Ways Crypto and AI Can Make Each Other Better (or Maybe Worse)
Blockchain May Offer Answers for AI Challenges
Former FTX.US President Brett Harrison's New Venture Is Seeking to Harness AI for Crypto Trading
Blockchain Developer Platform Alchemy Releases AI-Powered Tools for Web3 Builders
When AI and Blockchain Merge, Expect the Mundane at First
Imagining the Future AI and Web3 Can Build
World Economic Forum: Blockchain can help combat the threat of deepfakes. Here's how
Cointelegraph: DAOs: Where humans may fail, AI could succeed
Forbes: Convergence Of Web3, AI And Metaverse: Navigating The Great Reset For Investors,
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Chopping Block: Why AI Will Change the Course of History in Crypto - Ep. 471
Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. This week, NEAR co-founder and former Google AI researcher Illia Polosukhin joins the show to discuss the intersection of crypto and machine learning.
Show highlights:
whether Signature was shut down because of its crypto arm
whether banking crypto is riskier than banking other industries
how Balaji’s $1 million BTC bet is just highly effective marketing
whether the Fed is doing quantitative easing again
how the artificial intelligence industry has changed over the years
why Illia says that “open source always wins”
the intersection of blockchain technology and AI
whether a broken Tesla could become the world’s greatest investor
Hosts
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly
Guest
Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near
Disclosures
Links
Signature and Banking
Unchained:
$4 Billion in Crypto Deposits Not Included in Flagstar Signature Deal
Was Signature Bank Actually Insolvent?
Regulators Close Signature Bank Following SVB Collapse
Jim Bianco on Why the Banking System Has Always Been Broken
Nic Carter: Operation Choke Point 2.0 Is Underway, And Crypto Is In Its Crosshairs
Arthur Hayes: Kaiseki
Balaji’s bet
Coin Edition: Balaji Bets $1M on Bitcoin Price, Says US Hyperinflation Is Underway
Artificial Intelligence:
Richard Sutton: The Bitter Lesson
Facebook: Introducing LLaMA: A foundational, 65-billion-parameter large language model
Stanford: Alpaca: A Strong, Replicable Instruction-Following Model
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
NEAR, The Dark Horse of the L1 Wars? | Illia Polosukhin, Near
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of the Near. Near is one of the fastest-growing layer-one blockchains that uniquely focuses on the user and developer experience. Illia believes Near's innovative culture, simplicity and dynamic scalability will onboard the next 1B users to crypto.
Don't miss this discussion on Near's roadmap, scalability solutions, the layer-one landscape, Ukraine and more. This podcast was recorded the day before NEAR announced their latest $350M raise led by Tiger Capital; just 3 months after raising $150M from Three Arrows Capital.
--
BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users).
Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/
--
Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like Empire, visit http://blockworks.co/podcasts
Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show!
Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9
Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M
--
(00:00) Introduction
(01:00) Near's Inspiration
(06:35) Ethereum's Scaling Challenge
(09:48) Scalability Tradeoff
(15:00) Centralization
(16:51) Enabling Innovation
(24:03) Blockchains As Cities
(27:18) Bitmex Ad
(28:34) Sharding
(32:35) Coordination Problem
(37:27) Rollup Complexity
(40:13) Solana and Avalanche
(43:41) Composability
(46:33) Low Switching Costs
(48:38) Multichain and Bridges
(52:59) Open Source Competition
(56:03) Ukraine
Ukraine Has Received $150 Million in Crypto. Here’s How It Is Being Used - Ep.332
Illia Polosukhin, co-founder NEAR Protocol, and George Kikvadze, executive vice chairman at BitFury Group, both of whom have called Ukraine “home” at one point in their lives, discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the role crypto is playing in the war, and the various avenues crypto users can donate to. Show topics:
George and Illia’s background in crypto
George and Ilia’s connection to Ukraine
why crypto is so popular in Ukraine
what supplies are being purchased with donated crypto
how to donate crypto to Ukraine
why Patreon blocked donations to Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO
George and Illia’s estimation of the amount of crypto donations received by Ukraine
what department of Ukraine’s government spearheaded its adoption of crypto
what happened with the canceled airdrop
the different organizations accepting crypto donations in Ukraine
Upcoming Book Events
Friday, March 25: I’ll be on the Harvard campus at HBS Aldrich 011 from 4 pm ET - 5 pm ET. This is *not* open to the general public, but we have a few spots we can give away, first come, first serve. Email hello@unchainedpodcast.com, subject line "Harvard reading."
Wednesday, March 30: I’ll be speaking (remotely) with Six Senses about The Cryptopians at 2 pm ET. Be sure to save your spot soon – space is limited!
Tuesday, April 5: I will be doing a reading and signing hosted by the City of Miami Beach and Future Perfect Ventures at Sky Yard from 6-8 pm. Jalak Jobanputra, CEO of Future Perfect Ventures will be interviewing me. You need to RSVP by April 1 to dianafontani@miamibeachfl.gov.
Saturday, April 9: I will be on a panel at the Annapolis Book Festival at 11 am.
Tuesday, April 12: I will be at StartupGrind’s global event in Redwood City, which is focused this year on Web3 (time → TBD).
May 4-7: I will be at the PBS Seattle Crosscut Festival, which takes place from May 4-7.
May 23-25: I will be at the Oslo Freedom Forum which takes place from May 23 to 25. Details on these events are TBD.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021
Beefy Finance: https://beefy.finance
Cross River Bank: https://crossriver.com/crypto
Episode Links
George Kikvadze, executive vice chairman at BitFury Group
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitfuryGeorge
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-kikvadze-6256175/
Illia Polosukhin, co-founder NEAR Protocol
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ilblackdragon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/illia-polosukhin-77b6538/
Raising $ for Ukraine via Unchain Fund
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-09/ukraine-s-crypto-community-sends-donation-support-after-russia-invasion
https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/03/01/absolutely-surreal-inside-a-fund-raising-millions-in-crypto-for-besieged-ukraine/
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/26/22952357/ukraine-bitcoin-ethereum-donation-vitalik-buterin
https://thedefiant.io/ukraine-blockchain-development-teams/
Unchain Fund: https://unchain.fund/
Come Back Alive: https://www.comebackalive.in.ua/
Government Website for Crypto Donations: https://donate.thedigital.gov.ua/
Ukraine x Crypto
Ukraine purchasing supplies
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/03/07/ukraine-is-buying-bulletproof-vests-and-night-vision-goggles-using-crypto/
https://twitter.com/abornyakov/status/1502231351273172992?s=21
Live update from on Ukrainian crypto funds received
https://www.elliptic.co/blog/live-updates-millions-in-crypto-crowdfunded-for-the-ukrainian-military
Ukraine accepting crypto: https://twitter.com/Ukraine/status/1497594592438497282
Ukraine NFT launch to reflect history
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/13/ukraine-nft-history-of-russian-invasion-war
Unchained Coverage
https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-ukraine-is-leveraging-crypto-in-its-fight-against-russia/
https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-chopping-block-in-the-first-crypto-war-how-should-the-money-be-spent/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
"I Do Believe Ethereum Will Flip Bitcoin in the Next Four Years:” Balancer's Fernando Martinelli
In this week’s episode, I speak with Illia Polosukhin, cofounder of the Near Protocol and Fernando Martinelli, co-founder and CEO of Balancer Labs. Near is one of the up and coming Layer 1 chains, Balancer is a prominent DeFi protocol and application on Ethereum that will now also be on Near and other blockchains. As for Near being labeled an “Ethereum Killer” Illia says Near is “not trying to kill anybody.” He thinks finance is just a stepping stone for all the use cases enabled by blockchains and that Near can be the place where those consumer apps are built. Fernando says DeFi will live on many different Layer 1s, but he sees the space expanding into less than 10, not hundreds of chains. He remains very bullish on Ethereum and is betting on a flippening with Bitcoin in the near future, which Illia agreed would be “totally possible.”
Ready Layer One: Who Competes With Ethereum? - Ep.174
This week’s Unchained is my panel at Ready Layer One! We talk everything layer one with four key players and projects -- Illia Polosukhin of NEARprotocol, Zaki Manian of Cosmos, Rob Habermeier of Polkadot, and Arthur Breitman of Tezos — to find out how these projects plan to compete with Ethereum and attract developers and users. We discuss:
What platforms they are building and at which stage in development they are
How they differentiate themselves from Ethereum, and what problems they believe need to be solved
How they plan to attract devs in an industry of network effects
Whether or not Bitcoin and Ethereum are direct competitors
Whether, in the long run, crypto will be more winner-take-all or there will be multiple, interoperable chains
How they plan to bring new users into the space
How they think the transition to ETH2.0 will shake up the existing blockchain space
Take our survey!
Tell us what would you like to see from Unchained! Please take a moment to fill out the survey to let us know what you'd like from the show: surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020.
Crypto.com has offered our survey respondents a chance to win a metal MCO Visa card -- and Crypto.com will stake these cards indefinitely! Ten lucky winners will enjoy card benefits including free Spotify, free Netflix and 3% back on all spending, and they’ll earn extra interest on their crypto deposit and more! Thanks, Crypto.com! Again, take the survey now: surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020.
Unchained is hiring!
Come work at Unchained! We have an opening for a remote editorial assistant — find out more about the gig and apply here: https://unchainedpodcast.com/seeking-remote-editorial-assistant/
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
Kraken: https://www.kraken.com
Stellar: https://www.stellar.org/
Episode links:
Illia Polosukhin: https://twitter.com/ilblackdragon
Near protocol: https://near.org
Zaki Manian: https://twitter.com/zmanian
Cosmos: https://cosmos.network
Rob Habermeier: https://twitter.com/rphmeier
Polkadot: https://polkadot.network
Arthur Breitman: https://twitter.com/ArthurB
Tezos: https://tezos.com
Near protocol on mainnet: https://near.org/blog/near-mainnet-genesis/
Electric Capital report on the number of developers in Ethereum: https://unchainedpodcast.com/electric-capital-on-the-coins-punching-below-their-weight/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
.jpg?width=400){kind=small}