Illia Polosukhin, a co-founder of Near Protocol, is a name synonymous with the integration of AI and cryptocurrency. Polosukhin’s journey in the crypto sphere began with bitcoin mining in 2011, but his fascination with artificial intelligence (AI) goes back to his childhood. The blend of these two interests led to the birth of Near Protocol.

Near Protocol is a scalable blockchain platform that provides developers with the tools to create decentralized applications. It stands out for its sharding technology, which allows the network to horizontally scale and process more transactions as more nodes join the network. The platform's design is such that it can evolve with the advancements in technology, hence it can adapt to changes over time.

Before Near Protocol, Polosukhin was a part of Google's elite artificial intelligence team, where he worked on TensorFlow, the tech giant's end-to-end open-source platform for machine learning. His work at Google gave him an understanding of the power of community-driven open-source projects, which he applied when creating the Near Protocol.

Polosukhin believes in the potential of AI and blockchain integration. He envisions a future where AI controls crypto wallets and makes transactions based on the owner's behavior or predefined rules. This would increase the security of cryptocurrency transactions and reduce the possibility of human error. Additionally, AI could help optimize blockchain networks, making them more efficient and scalable.

Despite the potential benefits, Polosukhin acknowledges the challenges of integrating AI and blockchain. One of the main hurdles is the lack of understanding and trust in AI systems among the general public. To address this, he emphasizes the importance of education and transparency.

Polosukhin's journey in the crypto and AI industry is a testament to his belief in the power of these technologies. His innovative approach and pioneering work in integrating AI and blockchain have not only yielded Near Protocol but also opened up new possibilities for the future of these industries.