NEAR Protocol and iDEGEN: AI-Powered Cryptos Defining Web3 in 2025
In 2025, artificial intelligence is no longer just “everywhere” — it’s quietly rewriting how blockchains work, how communities self-organize, and how money behaves online.
Two projects sit at the front of this AI‑crypto convergence: NEAR Protocol, a high‑performance Layer 1 reinventing itself as the “AI blockchain backbone,” and iDEGEN, an unholy hybrid of meme culture and machine learning that’s gone from parody to prototype for the next wave of decentralized creativity.
One is infrastructure, the other culture. Together, they explain why AI‑powered crypto isn’t a gimmick — it’s the next stage of Web3’s evolution.
NEAR Protocol: The Layer 1 That Decided to Get Smarter
NEAR has been a strong Layer 1 contender for years — sleek, scalable, and competing with the Ethereums and Solanas of the world. But in 2025, NEAR is no longer just another “fast blockchain.” It’s pivoted hard into AI — and it’s working.
What’s making NEAR the AI chain to watch?
- Chain Abstraction with Brains: NEAR’s chain abstraction layer already made blockchain invisible to end‑users (gasless transactions, simple logins, seamless cross‑chain routing). Now AI personal assistants sit on top of that, quietly guiding users through dApps like they’re using Netflix, not DeFi.
- AI‑Optimized Smart Contracts: NEAR’s dev stack now supports AI‑assisted coding and auditing. Imagine writing a smart contract with a copilot that spots bugs and optimizes logic in real time — NEAR just made that normal.
- Open Web AI Alliance: In early 2025, NEAR helped launch an alliance for open‑source, decentralized AI models — a shot across the bow to Big Tech’s locked‑down AI silos.
- DePIN Meets AI Compute: NEAR is integrating with decentralized infrastructure networks to provide distributed GPU power for training and deploying AI — because in 2025, GPUs are the new oil.
NEAR is now where developers go to build AI‑driven dApps — from decentralized chatbots to predictive finance tools. In short: NEAR is the chain for the intelligent Web3 economy.
iDEGEN: The Meme Coin That Grew a Brain
If NEAR is the engineer, iDEGEN is the graffiti artist.
Launched in late 2024 as a tongue‑in‑cheek “AI memecoin,” iDEGEN could have stayed a joke. Instead, by 2025 it evolved into something weirder and more interesting: a cultural platform where AI, memes, and micro‑economies collide.
Why are serious people watching iDEGEN?
- AI‑Powered Community Bots: Discord and Telegram bots that don’t just spit memes — they help write smart contracts, mint NFTs, and even simulate DAO governance. Users create content, bots reward them — all tied to iDEGEN’s tokenomics.
- MicroDAOs for Everyone: Anyone can spin up a “MicroDAO” in seconds — a mini community run by AI agents that handle treasury, proposals, and execution. It’s DAO‑building on easy mode.
- Gamified AI Onboarding: Want to learn crypto? iDEGEN’s AI‑driven quests teach Web3 basics like a game — complete tasks, earn tokens, unlock more tools. Gen Z loves it.
- Unexpected Partnerships: What started as a meme now has ties to Arweave, The Graph, and even developer guilds on NEAR. And under all the humor, iDEGEN is quietly building DEGENet — a decentralized mesh for real‑time AI inference and entertainment.
iDEGEN is proof that in 2025, culture is a protocol — and AI can run it.
Why They Matter Together
NEAR and iDEGEN aren’t competitors; they’re complements.
- NEAR is the infrastructure: the rails, the runtime, the AI‑ready smart contract layer.
- iDEGEN is the energy: the memes, the MicroDAOs, the cultural pull that brings real people (not just developers) into crypto.
Web3 in 2025 has learned a hard truth: infrastructure alone doesn’t bring users, and hype alone doesn’t sustain innovation. You need both.
For Investors: Different Bets, Same Trend
- NEAR (NEAR): The “serious” play — already on major exchanges, in institutional portfolios, and powering real AI‑Web3 infrastructure.
- iDEGEN (DEGEN): The “wild card” — a high‑risk, high‑reward memecoin‑turned‑AI‑platform that could implode… or explode.
If NEAR is the Ethereum‑style long hold, iDEGEN is the “what if Dogecoin had an IQ?” moonshot.
The Bigger Picture
AI‑crypto isn’t a fad — it’s the fusion layer for the next internet.
NEAR is building the highway. iDEGEN is designing the ride.
Both are worth watching, holding, or at least understanding — because the future of crypto won’t just run on code, it will run on code that thinks.