Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR, predicts that AI agents will serve as the main users of blockchain technology. He envisions AI acting as the front-end interface for online activities, including crypto, while blockchain operates as the back-end infrastructure. This perspective suggests a shift where humans interact primarily through AI, abstracting complex blockchain elements like wallets and transaction hashes.
In an interview conducted in San Francisco, California, Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR, outlined his vision for the integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain. He stated, “The users of blockchain will be AI agents,” emphasizing that “AI is going to be on the front end, and blockchain is going to be the back end.”
Polosukhin argues that AI will emerge as the primary interface layer for all online interactions, including those in the crypto space. This would involve AI agents handling direct interactions with blockchain protocols, such as executing payments, managing assets, coordinating services, and participating in governance systems like voting. Humans would then engage solely with the AI layer. He remarked, “The goal is to make your AI hide all the blockchain,” and criticized current tools like blockchain explorers, saying, “The fact that we have [blockchain] explorers is effectively a failure, because we don’t abstract the technology.”
Looking ahead, Polosukhin believes, “AI is the front end, not just for blockchain, but for everything,” and in a few years, it will function like an operating system for the internet. He noted that blockchain's financial nature aligns with broader life activities, stating, “Blockchain is inherently financial. It will be limited to finance, but everything we do in our life is finance.” This positions blockchain as neutral financial rails providing settlement, ownership, verifiability, and programmable incentives beneath AI platforms.
Polosukhin expressed concerns about the crypto industry's approach to AI and governance. He commented on decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), saying, “DAOs have dramatically failed because they have been unbounded, not really designed to solve any problem.” He also highlighted cultural frictions, noting, “The memecoins are ruining [the industry's] reputation,” and that “AI people are banning crypto effectively because of memecoins.” Despite these issues, he views blockchain as essential for neutral markets and infrastructure supporting AI's growing autonomy in tasks like paying bills and allocating capital.
