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OpenAI founder Sam Altman is the most recognizable name in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, AI has steadily crept into every corner of daily life, and Altman has emerged as the leading figure driving that shift. This feature is a part of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2025 list. As AI has expanded and improved, it has become increasingly intertwined with crypto. A wave of decentralized applications and protocols now use AI to enhance or automate DeFi activity. At the same time, a growing group of builders believes the relationship goes both ways: AI may reshape crypto, but blockchains may also help fix some of AI’s emerging weak points, including compute, privacy, and identity. Decentralizing computing power The growing need for compute, driven in large part by the increasing use of generative AI, is one of the core issues that some in the crypto ecosystem have predicted as posing a problem in the imminent future. As our reliance on AI increases, more energy and compute is needed to keep systems running smoothly. In order to avoid a single point of failure, AI compute will need a massive, globally distributed network, which crypto could help coordinate. “Where blockchain shines [in addressing compute] is effectively marketplaces and coordination, and so crypto definitely has a really powerful role here to tap into underutilized compute: how to get the best price, how to secure that compute, and provide confidentiality,” said Illia Polosukhin, the creator of NEAR Protocol. NEAR is a blockchain designed for fast, low-cost, developer-friendly applications, and recently the team behind it has expanded its efforts to build out AI tools, letting blockchain developers run AI products onchain. Polosukhin was one of the authors of a whitepaper that many see as the framework for modern-day LLMs, also known…

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Filed under: News - @ December 19, 2025 1:24 am