San Francisco, California – $NEAR has launched Close to.com, a brand new cryptocurrency pockets and client app that goals to make blockchain expertise really feel as straightforward as utilizing conventional monetary apps, whereas additionally sitting on the intersection of cryptocurrency and synthetic intelligence (AI).
Polosukhin beforehand co-authored a paper introducing the Transformer Mannequin, the structure that underpins trendy AI methods similar to ChatGPT and lots of different large-scale language fashions, and is more and more targeted on how blockchain infrastructure can help the following wave of AI-driven functions.
“We’re coming into a world the place AI is changing into the interface for computing,” Poloskin stated throughout his presentation.
$NEAR The token has fallen almost 3% prior to now 24 hours.
At its core, Close to.com is designed to take away a lot of the friction that has lengthy made crypto complicated for on a regular basis customers. As a substitute of worrying about fuel charges, non-public keys, or switching between completely different blockchains, customers can handle their belongings in a single place.
“You do not have to consider blockchain. You do not have to consider fuel or keys,” Poloskin stated. “Simply use it as your essential pockets.”
Close to.com helps a wide range of digital belongings together with Bitcoin, stablecoins, NFTs, and different tokens. The thought is to deliver collectively actions that sometimes span a number of wallets and networks right into a single, streamlined interface.

Close to.com Tremendous App (Margaux Nijkerk/CoinDesk)
however $NEAR’s ambitions transcend simply constructing one other pockets. The corporate is betting that the following massive wave of cryptocurrencies will come from merging with AI.
As AI brokers turn out to be extra able to reserving journey, managing emails, and processing on-line purchases, transactional capabilities will turn out to be more and more mandatory. That is the place crypto infrastructure comes into play. Blockchain can present programmable funds, world cash transfers, and automatic funds with out counting on conventional intermediaries.
Poloskin argued that after AI methods start to work together with one another, they successfully turn out to be “financial actors,” software program packages that negotiate, pay, and coordinate duties. In that world, cryptocurrencies turn out to be the monetary layer that allows the actions of those brokers.
Close to.com is designed to function that layer, serving as an easy-to-use pockets for folks and an financial backend for AI-driven actions.
An vital a part of this announcement is privateness. One of many long-standing trade-offs of blockchain is transparency. Transactions are normally seen to everybody. Whereas this openness builds belief, it might probably additionally expose delicate monetary info to disclosure.
“All the things we do on-chain is clear,” Poloskin stated. “This isn’t sensible for regular use circumstances or on a regular basis use.”
To cope with this, $NEAR We’ve launched “Confidential Mode” inside Close to.com. This characteristic means that you can maintain your balances, transfers, and buying and selling exercise non-public throughout the community’s safety framework. The corporate says this can make the pockets extra sensible not just for people and companies, but additionally for AI brokers who must commerce with out revealing their methods or delicate information.
This launch indicators broader modifications on the planet $NEAR.
“We’ve the stack. We’ve all of the elements. We’ve the product,” Poloskin stated. “We’re now switching to a technique to truly scale adoption, to deliver this to billions of individuals world wide.”
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