April 9, 2026
The Next Digital Frontier: User-Owned AI, Agents, & Open Infrastructure with George Zeng of NEAR
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George Zeng, chief product officer at the NEAR Protocol, joins The Smart Economy Podcast to discuss the convergence of AI agents, crypto infrastructure, and user-owned intelligence. Zeng explains why decentralized AI matters, how agent-based systems could become the primary interface for the internet, and why combining crypto with AI may unlock new forms of ownership, privacy, and digital coordination.
In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by George Zeng, chief product officer at the NEAR Protocol, a blockchain ecosystem building infrastructure for user-owned AI and decentralized applications.
What you’ll learn:
- Why AI agents could become the primary interface for interacting with the internet
- How enterprise AI is evolving around privacy, security, and multi-agent coordination
- Why interface design often determines which technologies reach mass adoption
- How crypto infrastructure can support payments, identity, and coordination for AI systems
- Why the next major crypto breakthrough may emerge outside current narratives
- How managing multiple AI agents introduces new UX and product challenges
- Why balancing usability, privacy, and control is critical for future AI systems
- And much more!
George Zeng is the chief product officer at the NEAR Protocol, where he focuses on advancing user-owned AI and decentralized infrastructure at the intersection of crypto and artificial intelligence. His background spans Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and Facebook, where he developed expertise across financial systems, platform ecosystems, and product strategy at scale. At NEAR, Zeng is helping shape how AI agents, open-source models, and blockchain infrastructure come together to enable more accessible and user-controlled digital systems. His perspective is particularly valuable as AI and crypto begin to converge, offering a grounded view on where real adoption may occur, what challenges remain around usability and security, and how the next generation of the internet could be defined less by platforms and more by agents acting on behalf of users.
What you’ll learn:
- Why AI agents could become the primary interface for interacting with the internet
- How enterprise AI is evolving around privacy, security, and multi-agent coordination
- Why interface design often determines which technologies reach mass adoption
- How crypto infrastructure can support payments, identity, and coordination for AI systems
- Why the next major crypto breakthrough may emerge outside current narratives
- How managing multiple AI agents introduces new UX and product challenges
- Why balancing usability, privacy, and control is critical for future AI systems
- And much more!
George Zeng is the chief product officer at the NEAR Protocol, where he focuses on advancing user-owned AI and decentralized infrastructure at the intersection of crypto and artificial intelligence. His background spans Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and Facebook, where he developed expertise across financial systems, platform ecosystems, and product strategy at scale. At NEAR, Zeng is helping shape how AI agents, open-source models, and blockchain infrastructure come together to enable more accessible and user-controlled digital systems. His perspective is particularly valuable as AI and crypto begin to converge, offering a grounded view on where real adoption may occur, what challenges remain around usability and security, and how the next generation of the internet could be defined less by platforms and more by agents acting on behalf of users.
Did you enjoy this episode? Check out these other great guests:
- Tomasz Stańczak - Ethereum Foundation
- David Hoffman - Bankless
- Fisher Yu - Babylon Labs
- Alexei Zamyatin - BOB
- Sid Powell - Maple Finance
And many others!
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