Illia Polosukhin outlines 13 new application concepts for NEAR

Polosukhin’s vision centers on the utility of NEAR Intents, a settlement layer designed to facilitate cross-chain payments and liquidity. Among the proposed consumer tools is an AI-powered take on the Tamagotchi, where digital pets represented by NFTs carry native token balances to autonomously fund their own computing needs. This mechanism builds on the protocol’s existing staking-based AI payments, which already support models from providers like OpenAI and Google.

The proposal also addresses technical and financial friction. For event organizers, he suggests a decentralized registration model that holds participant deposits in escrow, returning funds only upon verified attendance. In the realm of finance, he envisions a universal checkout widget for merchants that allows customers to pay using assets from any blockchain, effectively bypassing the need for manual bridging or complex wallet swaps. Other concepts include an AI-driven encyclopedia fueled by prediction markets, private code review agents for software teams, and encrypted medical second-opinion platforms.

Beyond product design, Polosukhin emphasized that development hurdles have lowered significantly, making market reach the primary challenge for current builders. He encouraged developers to leverage established communities like NEARLegion and utilize platforms such as Product Hunt to boost visibility. This strategy aligns with recent institutional interest in the network, notably Bitwise’s launch of a U.S.-listed NEAR ETF, which highlights the protocol’s role in powering autonomous agents and decentralized settlement.