Illia Polosukhin returns to NEAR Foundation Council to continue the evolution of NEAR ecosystem, Diogo Mónica, Founder of Anchorage, joins as Chairman

NEAR Foundation today announced that Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of the NEAR protocol, will be returning to the NEAR Foundation Council (NFC) with immediate effect as part of a rotation of the NFC on the Foundation’s fourth anniversary. As an NFC member, Illia will be better positioned to support the evolution of the NEAR ecosystem, which puts Web3 founders at the core. Key developments will be revealed at this year’s NEARCON in Lisbon, 7-10 November.

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.