Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, published 13 application ideas on October 3, 2026, via his X account. The publication of the list comes in response to a growing number of both new and returning developers building projects across the NEAR ecosystem.
One proposed idea is the creation of an “AI Tamagotchi.” The concept merges NFT-based digital characters with artificial intelligence models, with each character holding its own NEAR balance to fund compute or AI inference costs. Polosukhin suggested various interactive activities, from feeding and dressing characters to pitting them against each other in battle arenas and tournaments.
The NEAR ecosystem already has infrastructure in place to support such AI-driven initiatives. Since July 31, 2026, the network has operated a staking-based AI payment system that converts locked tokens into monthly compute credits. The setup grants developers access to 43 AI models from various providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
Cross-Chain Bridges and E-Commerce
Polosukhin’s list also covers e-commerce solutions through a universal checkout widget concept. Customers would be able to settle payments using NEAR Intents directly through their existing wallets and blockchain networks. He proposed that developers bring this cross-chain payment widget to Shopify.
Cross-chain bridge development continues to move forward. On September 17, 2026, Aurora’s Intent Connect officially integrated Sui’s one-signature execution feature. This integration allows assets from other blockchain networks to enter applications within the Sui ecosystem without requiring separate bridging intermediaries.
Transaction Privacy and Risk Protection
In decentralized finance, Polosukhin pitched a private over-the-counter (OTC) trading marketplace powered by NEAR Intents. The dedicated space enables confidential peer-to-peer trades without requiring parties to know their counterparties beforehand. Social trading also received a fresh angle through the idea of selling “viewing keys,” allowing followers to purchase special access to view a trader’s private transaction history and copy their moves.
To round out financial tooling, he proposed a “Never get liquidated” protocol designed to manage lending and perpetual futures positions using NEAR Intents infrastructure. The protocol tracks yield opportunities while mitigating the risk of forced liquidation on user assets.
Polosukhin also suggested an escrow deposit-based event registration system - a cross-blockchain evolution of an earlier project named “Kickback.” Under this model, pooled initial deposits are redistributed exclusively to participants who actually attend. Another idea touches on healthcare records through end-to-end medical data encryption on NEAR AI, designed for seeking second opinions with prompt instructions stored within an NFT structure.
Institutional Fund Support
The development of NEAR’s architecture for AI agents coincides with institutional capital inflows. Asset manager Bitwise launched a NEAR ETF on NYSE Arca on September 29, 2026. The exchange-traded fund, under the ticker NRR, carries a management fee of 0.75%.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan described NEAR Intents technology as the transaction settlement foundation for AI agents. With the infrastructure established and ETF inflows highlighting growing institutional appetite, Polosukhin has laid out the blueprints, leaving developers free to build applications that capture that liquidity.
Reported via crypto.news.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
