How NEAR Is Building Crypto's Interoperability Layer | Illia Polosukhin

Illia Polosukhin joins us to discuss how NEAR is building the blockchain operating system. NEAR first came to prominence in 2020 as an alternative Layer One that is laser-focused on abstracting the complexities of onchain infrastructure. Since then, Illia (who is one of the brightest minds in crypto) and the NEAR team have transformed NEAR into crypto's interoperability layer. In this episode, we discuss NEAR's journey from AI to crypto, why NEAR scales via sharding, NEAR's chain abstraction and account aggregation layer, the AI narrative, crypto's biggest problem and more! - - (00:00) Introduction (00:49) NEAR's Transformation: From AI to Crypto (03:22) Scaling via Dynamic Shards: Near’s Unique Design (21:20) Access Protocol Ad (22:21) DAS London Plug (23:18) NEAR’s Data Availability Service (27:16) Chain Abstraction and the Blockchain Operating System (40:03) NEAR’s Missing Narrative (43:40) Network Value Accrual (49:18) The AI x Crypto Narrative (59:33) What Is Crypto’s Biggest Problem? -- Access Protocol is the best way to discover premium content from crypto's top publishers and independent creators. Access Protocol has reinvented content monetization, meaning you can access this premium content without endless ads or hard-to-cancel subscriptions. Access Protocol is crypto-native, built on Solana, and already has 225K users reading content, receiving NFTs and interacting with creators! Use this link to check out Access Protocol today:https://bit.ly/AccessProtocol_Lightspeed -- 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 LIGHTSPEED10 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 - - Follow Illia: https://twitter.com/ilblackdragon Follow Mert: https://twitter.com/0xMert_ Follow Garrett: https://twitter.com/GarrettHarper_ Follow Lightspeed: https://twitter.com/Lightspeedpodhq Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/43o3Syk Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3OhiXgV Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3OkF7PD Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Resources The NEAR Whiteboard Series https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9tzQn_TEuFWweVbfTbaedFdwVrvaYPq4 NEAR https://twitter.com/NEARProtocol - -  Disclaimers: Lightspeed was kickstarted by a grant from the Solana Foundation. Nothing said on Lightspeed 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. Mert, Garrett and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.