NEAR CTO Eric Winer Envisions an AI-Driven Future for Blockchain

At a time when the crypto industry is shifting towards artificial intelligence, Eric Winer has spent over a decade bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and everyday users. As CTO of NEAR AI, he is working towards a vision where AI agents communicate, negotiate, and transact on behalf of users, potentially revolutionizing the way people interact with the digital world. Winer's journey in crypto began 11 years ago when he joined the Winklevoss twins as the first engineer at Gemini, with the goal of applying robust engineering to blockchain technology to facilitate widespread adoption. He was also involved in the launch of one of the earliest NFT marketplaces, Nifty Gateway, which grew exponentially and introduced many to the world of online collectibles and art. However, Winer believes the promise of NFTs was overshadowed by speculation. Many crypto projects are now pivoting towards AI without a clear vision, but NEAR AI's approach is distinct. The company was founded as an AI company, with the goal of training models to write code, and its vision is centered around creating a decentralized ecosystem where users have control over their data and decision-making. NEAR AI offers a platform for hosting AI agents, making it easy for users to upload and run AI models online, with the ability for these agents to interact with each other seamlessly. The platform is also investing in Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to ensure the secure and private operation of these AI agents. Winer's vision for the future involves AI agents mediating most of our interactions with the internet and the world, managing tasks such as posting on social media, managing calendars, and filtering messages. This future could reshape financial systems by having AI agents negotiate and choose payment methods, potentially leading to increased adoption of blockchain and decentralized technologies. In Winer's view, AI could be the catalyst that drives blockchain adoption, rather than the other way around, by creating a world where AI agents prefer decentralized and blockchain-based solutions for their operations.