“I’m honored and excited to officially join the NEAR Foundation and continue working together with the ecosystem to build towards our shared vision of an open web,” said Illia Polosukhin about his new role. “Effectively coordinating a decentralized ecosystem involves a lot of iteration and experimentation and I’m proud that NEAR has committed to refining this process since the very beginning. I believe this next step in our shared evolution will help us build our respective verticals faster and work together more efficiently.” 

With his ability to bring together key nodes and align people across the ecosystem, Illia has always been a powerful guiding force for NEAR, something that his new role will allow him to continue and expand. As NEAR cements its position as the entry point to an open web, Illia’s appointment will help to create common work streams across the organization and broader ecosystem organizations that will help accelerate this journey. Combining a decentralized ecosystem approach with a more streamlined strategic coordination function will accelerate NEAR into its next phase of evolution, the details of which Illia will share at this week’s NEARCON. 

To help ensure the ecosystem nodes building this open web vision are coordinating effectively, Chris Donovan will be stepping into the position of NEAR Foundation COO to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Foundation, and will also remain as a member of the NEAR Foundation Council. Chris has been essential in this transition to a founder-led organization, and the Foundation and the whole ecosystem extend gratitude and appreciation for his work.

With a clear vision, strong leadership, an engaged ecosystem, and a passionate community all building towards a common vision, NEAR is poised to take its next bold step into an open web. All members of the NEAR community are invited to join this week for the biggest, most exciting NEARCON ever in Lisbon, or tune in virtually at nearcon.org starting Wednesday, November 8. You won’t want to miss the chance to hear exciting announcements and strategy updates from Illia, demos from top projects across the ecosystem, and leading perspectives from the Web3 industry during three days of talks, hackathons, and celebration.  

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As part of this rotation, Diogo Mónica has been appointed Chair of the NFC. Diogo is the Founder and President of Anchorage Digital, the world’s most regulated and proven institutional custodian. As the new Chair, Diogo brings years of experience in corporate leadership and crypto technologies, and a track record of scaling innovative and diverse teams in the digital asset space. Richard Muirhead, Founder, Chairman and Managing Partner at Fabric, will remain as NFC member, a position he has held since its inception; Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, will remain as advisor to the NFC; and Chris Donovan, CEO of NEAR Foundation, remains as NFC member. 

Mona El Isa, Marieke Flament & Jason Warner have elected to step down from their positions on the NFC.

Diogo Mónica, NFC Chairperson, remarked: “I am delighted to be joining the NEAR Foundation Council as Chair, joining Illia, Chris, Richard and Sheila. I have been following the impressive progress of the NEAR ecosystem for some time. Huge strides have been made over the last few years in building towards an Open Web. I am privileged to play my part in the next evolution of the NEAR ecosystem to continue on the Open Web journey, and excited to do my bit to bring new ideas and direction to support Founders building in the NEAR ecosystem.” 

The next evolution of the NEAR ecosystem will be unveiled at NEARCON, NEAR’s yearly ecosystem flagship event in Lisbon, from 7-10 November. Tickets are on sale at nearcon.org for $99.

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