Illia Polosukhin Reveals How Decentralized AI Will Break the Internet

In this episode of the Chain Reaction podcast, Illia Polosukhin — co-founder of NEAR Protocol — breaks down the current state of crypto and AI, why user-owned AI matters, and how NEAR Intents is powering a new era of seamless cross-chain transactions. We explore the rise in NEAR usage, the future of AI agents in finance, and what’s coming next at the intersection of Web3 and artificial intelligence. 00:00 – Intro 00:10 – What is NEAR and how has it evolved? 04:00 – How does NEAR power cross-chain swaps behind the scenes? 09:20 – Why are NEAR Intents so fast? 10:32 – How does a Bitcoin → Zcash swap actually work? 14:10 – What caused the recent spike in NEAR Intents usage? 15:40 – What does the future of the internet look like with AI agents? 19:40 – What are the biggest barriers to AI in crypto and finance? 24:40 – What future use cases does Illia want to see? 29:00 – Outro Follow COINTELEGRAPH: Website: https://cointelegraph.com/ Telegram: https://t.me/cointelegraph Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cointelegraph Twitter: https://twitter.com/cointelegraph Mobile app: https://linktr.ee/cointelegraph_mobile Cointelegraph covers everything Bitcoin, bringing you the latest news, prices, breakthroughs, and analysis, with emphasis on expert opinion and commentary from the digital currency community.