The hackathon, held from February 1–2 in San Francisco, was designed to push the boundaries of AI Agent innovation. The goal? To create agents that not only understand and analyze complex data but also explain their decisions and collaborate across blockchain networks seamlessly. As our CEO and co-founder Illia Polosukhin shared during his keynote, “AI is the last technology”.  

Organized in collaboration with Coinbase Developer Platform, Replit, and Anthropic, and sponsored by leading protocols including Virtuals Protocol, NEAR Protocol, XMTP, BASE Protocol, Hyperbolic Protocol, and Byte, the event was a melting pot of ideas and technical prowess. With over 100 participants, the hackathon provided an inclusive environment where developers could experiment with new tools, collaborate with peers, and tackle real-world challenges.

The Trillion Agent Pursuit

For the hackathon, NEAR included bounties focused on three key areas we believe pave the way to scale one trillion autonomous agents on-chain:

1. Reasoning Capabilities: Crafting agents that can explain their decisions and learn from experience. For example, imagine a smart contract auditor that not only identifies vulnerabilities but also reasons about potential attack vectors and suggests fixes.
   
2. Cross-Chain Intelligence: Building systems that can understand and optimize interactions across various blockchains. Picture a cross-chain data analyst that investigates market inefficiencies and arbitrage opportunities, clearly explaining its findings.
   
3. Practical Innovation: Developing tools and applications that translate advanced AI capabilities into accessible, real-world solutions. Consider a market sentiment analyzer that merges on-chain and off-chain data to formulate complex theories about market movements.
   

Participants were provided with a rich technical framework and resources—including our NEAR AI Agent Quickstart and key integration examples on GitHub—to jumpstart their projects. An example reference implementation offered a glimpse of a seamless NEAR Intent plus USDC flow:

https://github.com/referencedev/test-intent/blob/main/intents.py

This technical scaffold enabled teams to break down complex challenges into clear, manageable components, fostering an environment where technical depth met practical usability.

Winning Projects & Highlights

Several projects emerged as standout highlights, including two bounty winners that showcased the power of AI Agents on NEAR:

Chainsmokers (Participant: Matthew Law):
An MCP-augmented chatbot designed to create and pull in relevant tools on demand, facilitating natural language processing for cross-chain transactions through NearAI. Chainsmokers demonstrated how AI Agents can extend beyond pre-defined toolsets to provide flexible, real-time solutions.

“Crypto and its tech are often hidden from ordinary users, but the event brought together highly skilled devs. With guidance from Coinbase and Near’s engineering team, I rapidly built Chainsmoker . . . Near’s agent framework made integration seamless, and it was only exemplified by their incredible support. Seeing the community come together made it an enjoyable, educational, and deeply meaningful event.” – Matthew Law, Founder of Chainsmoker

Mosaia (Participants: Aaron Wong Ellis, Alex Alksne, Cyril Delattre):

Also known as Walley, this smart wallet agent assesses user input and wallet interactions to construct tailored investment strategies. Acting as an AI financial co-pilot, Walley continuously learns from user behavior, evolving its trading and smart contract interaction strategies.

“Building an AI agent able to transact on your behalf has been a lot of fun, and unlock a whole new word, where anyone can get access to a financial advisor that understand them. The hackathon provided a great platform to share how easy it can be to build personalized portfolio management across multiple chains through Mosaia. The support of NEAR’s team and robust developer ecosystem played a huge role in making this project a reality.” – Cyril Delattre, Mosaia Co-founder and CEO

Additional Notable Projects:

• A2A Exchange (Participant: Jared Grogan):
  A versatile agent equipped with advanced voice-to-voice capabilities, A2A Exchange leverages Herakles AI to support the Near Protocol ecosystem while delivering general-purpose crypto knowledge. This project underscored the potential of voice interfaces in enhancing blockchain interactions.
  
• Alphabot (Participants: Chetan Nandakumar, Michael Barry, Anderson Chen, BabuAravind, Kashyab Murali):
  A discovery service that enables AgentKit-powered agents to locate one another, Alphabot exemplifies how interconnected AI agents can form robust networks, enhancing both functionality and user experience.
  

The innovations showcased at the hackathon have far-reaching implications for the AI Agent ecosystem. By addressing challenges like reasoning, cross-chain coordination, and practical application, the projects not only highlight individual ingenuity but also signal a broader trend towards more adaptive, intelligent systems. The event reinforced that the future of technology will be defined by systems that learn, evolve, and operate across multiple domains seamlessly.

As we move forward, NEAR is committed to nurturing this ecosystem by continuing to provide robust tools, technical resources, and a collaborative platform for developers worldwide. The hackathon was more than a competition—it was a glimpse into the future of AI Agents, where creative problem-solving and technical excellence combine to unlock new possibilities.

We are excited about the journey ahead and look forward to seeing how these innovations shape the landscape of AI and blockchain technology. Stay tuned, and join us on the journey to one trillion agents on-chain.

Join Us at ETH Denver!

We’re also gearing up for ETH Denver with a series of exciting events. Mark your calendars and come join us for a deep dive into the NEAR AI stack, interactive workshops, networking sessions, and much more:

• Feb 25
  • The Road to One Trillion Agents (Day 1)
  • Delphi x NEAR Happy Hour 🍻
• Feb 26
  • Founders & VC’s Brunch hosted by DFG, Jsquare, and NEAR
  • The Road to One Trillion Agents (Day 2)
  • NEAR Eco Mixer 🍹
• Feb 27
  • NEAR AI Agent Games Day 🤝
• 

For more technical resources and support, visit the NEAR AI Documentation, explore our NEAR AI Agent Kit, or join our Developer Telegram.

The post AI Agents: Transforming Technology at the Coinbase Onchain AI Hackathon appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

Web3 adoption needs seamless user experiences. Today, we’re announcing two strategic RFPs (Request for Proposals) that will transform how users interact with blockchain technology:

• Maintaining and evolving the current Fast Auth network
• Building a new chain-abstracted embedded wallet solution with automatic authentication across apps

The Opportunity

Selected teams will:

• Take over and maintain the existing Fast Auth network powering over 800,000 SWEAT users
• Build Fast Auth 2.0—a developer-friendly Chain-Abstracted embedded wallet and facilitate Fast Auth 1.0 migration (part of Fast Auth RFP)
• Create Multichain One-Click Connect for automatic authentication across applications

While it’s preferred that the same team applies for both Multichain One-Click Connect and Fast Auth since the solutions complement each other well, this is not required.

NEAR’s Unique Advantage

NEAR stands apart through its innovative key rotation capabilities. Unlike traditional MPC solutions, NEAR allows true custody transfer through the ability to add and delete full access keys. This means users maintain their NEAR accounts while controlling assets across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other chains – all while reducing dependence on centralized key holders.

NEAR’s account model gives us a competitive edge. With named accounts, subaccounts, and linkdrop technology, we offer Web2-like accounts using usernames and passwords, plus the ability to program on-chain interactions for users who don’t yet have accounts. While we recognize the need for simpler Web2-style authentication—and acknowledge solutions like Privy and Web3Auth and clean wallets contributing to growth in ecosystems like Solana and Base—we believe true crypto ownership requires self-custody. Users should be confident that regardless of which service they use to set up their wallet, they can safely transfer it without anyone else retaining access. Chain Signatures will enable us to combine easy onboarding with decentralized progressive custody not just for the NEAR ecosystem, but for every supported chain’s ecosystem.

The Power of Chain Signatures

Chain Signatures, a novel threshold signature protocol utilizing an MPC (multi-party computation) signer network on NEAR, enables account aggregation—the ability to sign transactions on any chain from a single NEAR account through one interface. This groundbreaking innovation in 2024 has already seen a rich ecosystem including Bitcoin-to-email transfers, bitcoin lending, multichain agents, and cross-chain swaps. While its potential is immense, developers currently face integration challenges requiring manual setup of chains and supporting wallets, significant hurdles remain for the average application developer.

Building the Complete Solution

This isn’t just an infrastructure build—the new maintainers of Fast Auth are being asked to build a complete embeddable wallet that works with all chains’ major wallet providers, which application developers and other wallet providers can integrate as infrastructure. Creating a truly seamless Web3 experience requires multiple components working in harmony: Chain Signatures for account creation and signing, Multichain One-Click Connect for seamless authentication, Gas Abstraction for application-subsidized transactions, and Chain-Abstracted oracles and explorers to properly display cross-chain balances and transactions. Together, these elements will enable users to transact across chains without managing private keys.

To achieve this vision, we’re launching RFPs for:

• FastAuth 1.0 Takeover + Fast Auth 2.0 – Chain Abstraction

• Multichain One-Click Connect

Why Now?

Following Keypom’s acquisition by Infinex and the sunset of Pagoda (formerly NEAR Inc), we’re taking a new approach. Rather than building in-house, we’re funding multiple qualified teams to maintain, integrate, and evolve these technologies. This strategy will create a more competitive and decentralized ecosystem.

Join Us in Building the Future

We’re seeking multiple qualified teams with experience in cross-chain products and embedded wallet solutions. The Infrastructure Committee, NEAR’s dedicated infrastructure funding body, will evaluate proposals two weeks after the submission period ends. Apply directly here and learn more about the Committee’s vision in their yearly recap here.

The post RFPs Now Open for Fast Auth and Multichain One-Click appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

The Foundation is looking to invest in agent tokens that push the boundaries of the onchain agentic design space beyond the basic social poster agents. NF will explore working with ecosystems like Sky, Frax, and more on accelerating the launch of novel use cases powered by AI agents that can unlock new flows of value. Some experiments the fund would be excited to support include agent tokenisation, agent-curated order flow, fully on-chain gaming with AI characters, permissionless AI oracles, agent curated savings accounts, financial entertainment, market maker agents, and social onboarding.

By creating this agent fund, the Foundation hopes to bring more builders onboard to the exciting possibilities unlocked by NEAR’s tech at the intersection of crypto and AI. NEAR’s fully verifiable AI agent development stack includes some unique core primitives that offer a full spectrum of developer tooling options. These include off-chain and cross-chain commitments with NEAR Intents, multi-party computation (MPC) based key management and trust minimized bridging with Chain Signatures, and trusted execution environments (TEEs) for agents to run securely.

NEAR is purpose-built to drive innovation and propel adoption of open-source, User Owned AI, empowering users to control their own data and assets while enabling personalized AI use cases that make their lives better and easier. Today’s popular AI interfaces, both closed-source and open source, lack transparency in both how models are trained and how user data is utilized. The NEAR ecosystem envisions a future in which groundbreaking AI and the sovereignty of communities and individuals are not at odds, but rather symbiotic––leading to new economic opportunities, novel business models, and a diverse technology landscape no longer controlled by a few mega-corporations. 

The agent fund will complement other builder-focused initiatives in the NEAR ecosystem including the Horizon AI accelerator cohorts and AI hackathons, empowering the next generation of founders and projects pushing the boundaries of AI and Web3. 
Builders interested in creating experimental agents and AI tokens can get started here.

The post NEAR Foundation Announces AI Agent Fund to Invest in Innovative Agent Tokens appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

NEAR DevHub

DevHub is a collaborative space where developers build for other developers, with a primary focus on developer tooling and content. As a community-driven initiative, DevHub will continue to operate with a wide range of contributors and projects, with a shared goal of building a thriving developer community on NEAR.

NEAR Dev

NEAR Dev is a new formal entity with a team comprised of extensive NEAR tech experience, focused on:

• Partner Success: Providing expert technical consulting and support to top NEAR projects.
• DevTools: Building, maintaining, and coordinating the development of essential tools and content for developers, in collaboration with the DevHub community.
• DevRel: Streamlining the onboarding process and providing resources (such as documentation, tutorials, and workshops) to help developers build quickly on NEAR.

NEAR Dev will collaborate closely with DevHub communities, helping the NEAR Foundation effectively scale its support for teams and projects that are building for other developers within the NEAR ecosystem. 

Community Projects

DevHub has fostered the creation of various projects, including Hackbox, which focuses on hackathon coordination (watch for their update in the upcoming NEAR Town Hall). These projects operate independently with their own goals and scope. While hackathon coordination is not part of NEAR Dev’s scope, the NEAR Dev team will collaborate with NEAR Hackbox and other community projects as needed to support ecosystem partners. 

Looking Ahead

The launch of NEAR Dev is an important evolution for the NEAR developer community, providing dedicated support where it is needed most. By prioritizing top app developers and actively collaborating with the broader DevHub community, NEAR Dev is uniquely positioned to tackle key technical challenges and drive the expansion of the NEAR ecosystem. For more information on the latest developer updates from both NEAR Dev and the broader community, sign up for the DevHub newsletter.

The post Ecosystem Update: Announcing NEAR Dev, a DevHub spinout appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

What’s Happening?

Our mission is clear: chart the path to scale one trillion autonomous agents on blockchain networks. Through keynotes, technical workshops, whiteboard sessions, and interactive content, you’ll discover the cutting-edge tech driving autonomy, trust, and security in Web3.

Expect technical demos, hands-on learning, and community discussions addressing the biggest challenges in scaling decentralized AI. Whether you’re a protocol developer, researcher, or founder, you’ll leave with actionable insights and practical solutions for building at scale.

Can’t-Miss Events

Here’s the full lineup of events to help you maximize your ETHDenver experience:

Feb 25

• 🛠️ The Road to One Trillion Agents (Day 1)
  Dive into foundational concepts and practical applications of autonomous agents on NEAR.
• 🍻 Delphi x NEAR Happy Hour
  Connect with peers over drinks and ideas!

Feb 26

• 🥞 Founders & VCs Brunch
  Co-hosted by DFG, Jsquare, and NEAR, this brunch is perfect for networking with top-tier investors and founders.
• 🛠️ The Road to One Trillion Agents (Day 2)
  Deep-dive into advanced topics with experts from the NEAR ecosystem.
• 🍹 NEAR Eco Mixer
  Unwind and mingle with builders, developers, and innovators shaping the NEAR ecosystem.

Feb 27

• 🤝 NEAR Agent Games Day
  Join us for a day filled with interactive games, networking and insights into building impactful projects in the NEAR ecosystem. Whether you’re a developer, creator, or enthusiast, it’s the perfect opportunity to connect, learn, and have fun! 
• 💰 Discover Protocol Rewards
  A team member will be on-site to answer your questions and guide you through the process. Are you building the next big thing on NEAR? Don’t miss your chance to earn up to $10,000 per month while developing your project. 👉 Apply Now

Feb 28

• 🥞 ETH Rising hosted by Re, Bitwise and NEAR
  Join us at ETH Rising, where we explore the pivotal crossroads shaping the future of DeFi.

Why Join Us?

• Gain hands-on experience with NEAR’s AI stack driving autonomy and scalability.
• Connect with a global community of developers, researchers, and investors innovating in AI and blockchain.
• Be part of the movement shaping the future of autonomous systems and the path to One trillion agents.

Let’s build the future together. Don’t miss your chance to connect, collaborate, and innovate at ETHDenver 2025.

👉 Register now and secure your spot!
Learn More & RSVP

See you in Denver!

The post NEAR at ETHDenver 2025: Join the Road to One Trillion Agents! appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

2024: From Duct Tape to Infrastructure 

In just eight months since its inception, the Infrastructure Committee has become the most prominent open grant mechanism in the NEAR ecosystem in response to “infra not infra-ing.” 

The current infrastructure committee is composed of technical leaders from around the NEAR ecosystem: Bowen Wang, head of NEAR One; Alex Shevchenko, founder of Aurora; Eric Winer, CTO of Pagoda; Vlad Frolov of NEAR DevHub; Evgeny Kuzyakov of FastNEAR—with admin support from the NEAR Foundation and DevHub contributors.

The committee’s impact has been substantial, supporting critical infrastructure that powers the entire ecosystem. The Infrastructure Committee approved 24 proposals, out of 99 submissions, in 2024.

Some notable 2024 highlights include:

• Enhanced Wallet Infrastructure: Supported most major native wallets (NEAR Mobile Wallet, HERE Wallet, Nightly Wallet, Meteor Wallet, MyNEARWallet transition to Meteor), enabling innovations like HERE Wallet’s HOT wallet (which became one of Web3’s most-used dApps), Meteor Wallet’s successful launch of Harvest Moon, and the Nightly Social Login
• Decentralized RPC Services: Successfully transitioned RPC services to decentralized providers (Lava), improving network reliability and performance, and onboarding additional providers like FastNEAR and BlockPi, significantly enhancing RPC node response times and uptime
• Multiple Analytics Vendors: Funded NEARBlocks, the primary explorer on NEAR, and onboarded multiple analytics providers, including Token Terminal, Chainspect, and Intear, strengthening core infrastructure tools and analytics capabilities
• Pagoda Sunset: Supported the transition of critical services to sustainable, community-driven alternatives with the wind-down of Pagoda services
• Innovative Endeavors: Funded DevHub’s self-service treasury app and an exciting partnership with Mercuryo for a NEAR-branded Mastercard
• Create On-Chain Funding Process: Established an on-chain process for RFPs and proposals through DevHub’s portal product

Looking Ahead: 2025 Priorities

Based on extensive builder feedback and ecosystem needs, the Infrastructure Committee’s focus in 2025 includes:

• Continuous Improvement: Continuing to support infra and ongoing commitments from the previous year, including but not limited to the wallets mentioned above, Fast NEAR, and NEARBlocks 
• Working Groups: Setting up working groups to manage accounts, respond to proposals actively, find innovation, and draft RFPs so that ecosystem development can become more proactive instead of reactive. Expect RFPs to be posted regularly throughout the year. 
• Wallet Improvements: NEAR single sign-on from NEAR wallet to Solana app, on-ramps, and off-ramps
• Chain Abstraction Infrastructure: Supporting the development of tools and services to make NEAR more accessible and interoperable with other blockchain ecosystems (multichain explorer, oracles, Omnitoken, Omnibalance support)
• Decentralized AI Infrastructure: Investing in foundational infrastructure to support NEAR’s growing role in decentralized AI applications from across the ecosystem

Get Involved

Do you have an idea or see a gap that needs addressing? The Infrastructure Committee welcomes participation from the entire NEAR ecosystem through the NEAR Infrastructure Committee Portal. Ecosystem members are welcome to help create strategic RFPs and vet proposals in the following ways: 

• Builders: Share your infrastructure needs and pain points
• Infrastructure Providers: Submit proposals for innovative solutions
• Community Members: Provide feedback on current infrastructure and future needs

Thanks to everyone who contributed to critical NEAR infrastructure in 2024 and the IC looks forward to even more great work in 2025.

The post NEAR Infrastructure Committee: First Year Recap & 2025 Priorities appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

Infinex, founded by Synthetix creator Kain Warwick, aims to abstract away UX challenges and complexities at the core of DeFi. Whereas it was once impossible to enable DeFi compatibility for non-smart contract assets and to custody them securely on-chain, Infinex is making DeFi more seamless. Without integrating every chain, DeFi experiences remain fragmented.  

NEAR Chain Signatures enable users to sign transactions on third-party blockchains from a single account. By integrating with NEAR Chain Signatures, Infinex users can control and interact with non-smart contract chains like Bitcoin and Ripple from their existing accounts. In the coming months, users can trade these assets natively on the platform via NEAR Intents.

“Infinex is a monolithic platform that will accelerate the extinction of centralized exchanges,” said Warwick. “To do this, we’re thrilled to partner with NEAR to connect legacy chains like Litecoin and XRP to DeFi.” Infinex CTO Jed Watson added, “This is a major unlock for us. Our smart contract architecture is key to how we combine groundbreaking UX with on-chain transparency and funds recovery. With NEAR, we can bring the same functionality to chains like Bitcoin, offering users genuine self-custody of native assets without compromise.”

NEAR Foundation is proud to be the primary Chain Abstraction partner for Infinex and help support their mission to improve DeFi usability and accessibility. “I am excited to see Infinex tackle the important work of onboarding users into self-custody with a strong focus on user experience,” said Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol. “NEAR has been pushing this vision of chain abstraction and ease of use since the start in 2018, so it’s great to partner with a prolific builder like Kain and the team at Infinex to make this vision a reality for the next generation of users.”

Follow NEAR Protocol on X to stay up to date on the latest with Chain Signatures, Intents, and the future of DeFi on NEAR.

The post Infinex Integrates NEAR Protocol Chain Signatures and NEAR Intents appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

NEAR will now have direct exposure to the Ethereum community, further reducing the friction of users having to create NEAR wallets before interacting with NEAR/multichain apps. All Ethereum users—and this is particularly relevant to DeFi users—now have access to the benefits of Chain Signatures and Chain Abstraction apps, with no new wallets or assets needed. Developers and teams can directly embed the Ethereum wallet selector in their apps, allowing users to sign in using MetaMask or the ETH wallet of their choice.

NEAR co-founder and CEO Illia Polosukhin comments: “Enabling all Ethereum wallets, including MetaMask, to sign in on NEAR apps closes another gap in achieving Chain Abstraction. ETH users are now able to explore experiences on NEAR and other chains without needing to switch wallets. This is a big step forward for simpler onboarding and defragmenting liquidity and access for DeFi users, bringing all of Web3 closer to achieving the Chain Abstraction vision.”

Aurora Labs is the project behind Aurora, a network of Virtual Chains that combines NEAR’s scalability with powerful infrastructure for the easy deployment of preconfigured blockchains.

“By integrating Ethereum wallets into NEAR’s ecosystem,” said Aurora Labs’ CEO Alex Shevchenko, “we streamline access and enhance the developer experience. Developers can now build apps that seamlessly serve both NEAR and Ethereum users, simplifying onboarding and expanding liquidity channels. This is a crucial step toward a unified Web3 where users and capital move freely across ecosystems.”

A short list of NEAR partners implementing the Ethereum wallet integration includes:

• Thunderhood
• Burrow.finance
• Linear Finance
• Munzen
• Bitte Wallet
• Paras
• Ref Finance
• Sender
• Meteor Wallet

Head to welcome-to-near.org to sign in with your preferred Ethereum wallet and explore apps and experiences in the Chain Abstraction ecosystem. That includes unlocking the whole universe of Chain Abstracted DeFi experiences from your existing wallet: engage with NEAR DeFi apps like Ref and Burrow and participate in their incentivized pools.

The post All Ethereum Wallets, Including MetaMask, Now Usable on NEAR Mainnet appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

The selected teams will benefit from a comprehensive support package, including technical guidance, funding opportunities, and access to NEAR and Delphi’s expert networks. Each team will also receive $50,000 in compute credits from Aethir, the accelerator program’s premier compute partner. These credits will ensure that every team has the necessary computational resources to develop and deploy resource-intensive AI models—and focus on building without being constrained by infrastructure limitations.

Beginning October 15 and running through early December, NEAR Foundation and Delphi Labs have selected the following cohort teams:

• Hyperspace: Hyperspace is building a decentralized, peer-to-peer AI network. Their mission is to create a unified platform for AI interactions through a “generative browser” serving as a unified interface for AI-powered web interactions.
  • Selection notes: Hyperspace has demonstrated traction with over 7,000 unique nodes in their P2P network and a robust product suite, most recently launching Play, a generative browser agent.
• Almanak: Almanak is an end-to-end platform to build, test, train, optimize, and deploy agents for DeFi. Their mission is to democratize access to sophisticated financial strategies through the use of AI agents.
  • Selection notes: Almanak’s team has spent the last two years building a platform that uses agent-based simulations to optimize on-chain strategies. Their agents are already managing sizable AUM for institutional partners, demonstrating strong traction and expertise in their domain.
• Questflow: Building a next-generation AI agent economy, Questflow is developing a decentralized network that orchestrates multi-agent AI automation. Users can dispatch incentives to both AI and human workers, creating a collaborative environment for autonomous and human-assisted processes.
  • Selection notes: Questflow aims to dominate the AI agentic workflow market, particularly in SEO. Their gamified reward system and strong focus on winning specific verticals make them a standout candidate for advancing AI automation workflows.
• Q Star Labs: Q Star Labs is developing a decentralized generative AI protocol for creating interactive, autonomous AI influencers at scale. Their Reinforcement Learning-based algorithm, Q STAR, is designed for long-term strategic planning to optimize AI content generation and engagement.
  • Selection notes: The Q Star Labs team has a unique blend of expertise in AI, crypto, and finance, launching AI influencers that have organically grown to over 27,000 followers.
• ZettaBlock: ZettaBlock is laying the groundwork for open and trustless AI development through a decentralized platform that provides developers with the infrastructure needed to unify on-chain and off-chain data. By offering modular, adaptable data solutions, ZettaBlock empowers the AI economy with the tools needed to integrate both historical and real-time data from multiple sources.
  • Selection notes: ZettaBlock’s leadership in both AI and data infrastructure makes them a pivotal player in the future of decentralized AI. They’re already supporting major protocols like EigenLayer and Chainlink. Their vision for a unified AI data platform aligns perfectly with NEAR Foundation and Delphi’s mission to foster open and scalable AI infrastructure that developers can rely on.
• Magic: Magic is redefining how private data is used in AI. Their decentralized platform allows companies and developers to train AI models using private data, all while preserving the integrity and privacy of the underlying information. This is achieved through an innovative stack of privacy protocols and decentralized coordination.
  • Selection notes: Magic is tackling one of the toughest challenges in AI—privacy-preserving data access. Their team, with deep roots at Stanford AI Lab, has developed unique methods to keep data secure while enabling AI innovation at scale. Their ability to unlock private data for developers, without compromising security, makes Magic an essential piece of the decentralized AI puzzle.
• dFusion: dFusion is building a platform to solve one of AI’s biggest hurdles: reliable data quality. They’re focused on creating a consensus-driven framework that curates and validates high-quality data, ensuring that AI models are trained on information that is accurate, corroborated, and trustworthy.
  • Selection notes: dFusion’s commitment to consensus-based knowledge curation sets them apart from other players in the data space. By focusing on data integrity and consensus, they’re creating a unique foundation for AI development—one that ensures reliability and transparency. Their work opens up new opportunities for building AI applications that need trustworthy data, which is critical as decentralized AI continues to evolve.
• Peri Labs: Peri Labs is building an open marketplace leveraging underutilized computational resources across billions of consumer devices to power optimized AI models. The Peri Protocol abstracts the complexity of diverse hardware ecosystems, enabling seamless AI model deployment at scale.
  • Selection notes: Peri Labs differentiates itself with a focus on edge compute, uniquely integrating idle resources from consumer-grade devices to run AI models effectively. Their emphasis on model compression, optimization, and decentralized inference positions them as pioneers in making edge AI truly scalable, providing an efficient, privacy-preserving alternative to centralized cloud solutions.

In addition to the resources above, the NEAR x Delphi AI Accelerator Program includes some more unique opportunities for participants:

• Industry-leading speakers: Participants will hear from founders, investors, and experts from AI and Web3, providing insights into current trends and future opportunities. 

• IRL Founder Retreat: An in-person retreat week in New York City for networking, collaboration, and team-building.
• Closing Demo Day: The program will conclude with a Demo Day in early December, showcasing participating teams to our extensive investor network.

NEAR is a leading blockchain platform designed to accelerate the development of decentralized applications with a focus on usability and scalability. Delphi Labs is a research and development firm that specializes in Web3 and DeFi. 

NEAR and Delphi Labs share the common strategic vision of a user-owned AI ecosystem, built on Web3 rails, that provides genuinely better alternatives to developers and users than the prevailing model of centralized AI controlled by big tech companies and governments. The goal is to maximize the benefits of AI for people and communities—and minimize the potential risks—by putting the power of AI where it belongs: in the hands of users. 

The NEAR ecosystem is quickly becoming the go-to home for decentralized, User-Owned AI, and this new AI Accelerator Program with Delphi Labs is a critical step toward integrating projects with significant potential into that ecosystem, setting the stage for the next generation of AI-powered decentralized apps.

NEAR’s first AI x Web3 incubator cohort, which ran from June to August 2024, saw participants achieve significant early milestones while contributing essential pieces to the growing User-Owned AI stack. These milestones include: Hyperbolic hosting the latest open source AI models, including Llama 3.1 405B; Mizu launching their beta platform and attracting 20K users in the first week; and Pond launching their first GNN model for wallet predictions and achieving a 20% prediction rate. The teams have built on the momentum from the incubator to attract serious seed funding interest, collectively raising $26M, with Hyperbolic successfully closing a $7M round.

Stay tuned for details on the cohort’s Demo Day, which will take place on December 14. Teams with a strong vision for decentralized AI applications and infrastructure are encouraged to apply for the next accelerator program cohort to take place early next year.

The post NEAR Foundation and Delphi Labs Partner to Launch New AI Accelerator appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

Don’t forget to visit us near the Main Stage during Token2049 at Booth #P28 + P29. Our team, along with partners SWEAT, Proximity Labs, and Aurora, will be on hand to answer questions and engage with the community.

Showcasing the Synergy: AI and Chain Abstraction in Action

The intersection of AI and blockchain is no longer a distant future—it’s happening now, and NEAR is at the forefront. Our packed Token2049 week kicks off with the HELLO [AI] First Token Party on September 16th, where we’ll be exploring the next frontier of AI-Powered Blockchain Applications. Expect mind-bending discussions on topics like AI-driven smart contracts, decentralized machine learning marketplaces, and the tokenization of AI models.

Following this, we dive deep into the technical challenges and opportunities at The Scaling AI Summit (September 16-17). Here, NEAR’s co-founder, Alex Skidanov, will deliver a keynote focusing on the fundamental building blocks of user-owned AI, a concept at the forefront of NEAR’s vision. He’ll explore how this approach is reshaping the landscape of artificial intelligence and empowering users in unprecedented ways.But NEAR’s involvement goes far beyond a single keynote. Throughout the summit, we’re showcasing how our innovative approach to chain abstraction is revolutionizing the integration of AI models across diverse blockchain architectures. From optimizing cross-chain AI computations to enabling seamless data sharing for federated learning, NEAR is paving the way for a new era of scalable, interoperable AI-blockchain solutions.

NEAR is Booked & Busy

September 17th stands out as a day packed with groundbreaking events:

1. Open #AI House: We’re not just talking about AI; we’re democratizing it. NEAR joins a panel on “Let’s Democratize AI” featuring industry leaders discussing how NEAR’s open-source ethos is reshaping the AI landscape.

2. NEAR AI Tech Showcase: Get ready for a deep dive into our latest AI innovations. We’ll demonstrate how our chain abstraction techniques are enabling more efficient training and deployment of AI models on-chain.

3. Modular & L2 Day | TOKEN2049 Singapore: Vikas Pandey from NEAR Foundation will be shedding light on how our modular approach is revolutionizing blockchain customization and optionality.

4. Chain Abstraction X DeFi Brunch: Join us for a delicious brunch and discover how NEARy is simplifying DeFi interactions, making it easier than ever to hold many assets from different chains on one wallet.

5. From September 17-19, NEAR Singapore is hosting a 3-day SkyPool Lounge & Party during TOKEN2049 Singapore. This isn’t just a networking event; it’s a technical showcase. Expect in-depth discussions on the ecosystem, live coding sessions, and interactive demos that highlight the practical applications of our chain abstraction and AI technologies.

Spotlight on Speaking Engagements

NEAR’s visionaries are set to captivate audiences across multiple high-profile events this September. At Token2049, don’t miss Alex Skidanov’s compelling panel discussion on “Decentralized AI: The Power of Permissionless Intelligence,” where he’ll explore how blockchain technology is democratizing AI development and deployment. Alex will also deliver a solo presentation titled “Building Web3 Apps of the Future with User-Owned AI,” diving deep into the technical intricacies of integrating AI with decentralized systems and showcasing how NEAR’s infrastructure is paving the way for a new generation of intelligent, user-centric applications. 

Meanwhile, at Connect 2049, Mark Mi will take the stage to discuss “The Future of Open Source AI,” illuminating how NEAR’s commitment to open-source principles is fostering a more accessible, innovative, and collaborative AI ecosystem. 

The intellectual feast continues at The Scaling AI Summit, where cutting-edge technical demonstrations from Ringfence AI and Bitte will augment Alex Skidanov’s keynote. These demos will bring theory into practice, offering attendees a tangible glimpse of how NEAR’s technologies are being applied to solve real-world challenges at the intersection of AI and blockchain. From decentralized machine learning to blockchain-powered AI marketplaces, these presentations and demos will showcase the full spectrum of NEAR’s pioneering work in the rapidly evolving landscape of decentralized AI.

Shaping the Future of Web3 and AI

As we navigate through this action-packed Token2049 Week in Singapore, one thing becomes clear: NEAR is not just participating in the conversation about chain abstraction and AI—we’re leading it. Our technical innovations are setting new standards for interoperability, scalability, and user-owned intelligence.

We invite you to join us at these events, either in person or through our live streams. Stay tuned to our official channels for real-time updates, technical deep-dives, and opportunities to engage with our team of experts.

The future of Web3 and AI is being written now, and NEAR is holding the pen.

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