Web3 Regulation was centre stage at Abu Dhabi Finance Week with a range of announcements across AI and blockchain. Yet some firms are filling the gap with personalisation, not to mention privacy.
Near AI’s vision to power every aspect of the business community’s financial conduct is put through blockchain.
A Perfect Pair: AI & Blockchain
According to the Co-Founder and CEO of NEAR Protocol, the parent company of NEAR AI, Illia Polosukhin, AI is the “decision-making” layer and blockchain is the “execution” layer.
Together users can use AI to specify desired outcomes whilst executing them via blockchain: AI-to-AI transactions.
”AI will power effectively every single pixel on your devices; AI will define what you see, what you know, what information you see, and it will start transacting on your behalf,” Illia said.
In fact, over 28 blockchains – including Solana, Bitcoin, and Ethereum – are integrated into this unified liquidity layer yet the institutional convergence is growing. The issue with AI is that information can be “monetised against you,” so privacy is the solution to this issue: trust specifically.
NEAR AI: User Aligned, Not Platform Aligned
The platform launched two weeks ago with its first private AI chat securing conversations with end-to-end encryption. AI can be your “lawyer, therapist, or doctor” but third-party access monetises from your privacy, he said.
The Founder placed emphasis on the ‘intent economy’ referencing AI’s interests for firm-to-firm access than the user: a key differentiation for firms seeking privacy with AI usage and consumer taste on ethics.
Regulatory Environment in GCC
The UAE is looking to innovate on AI and Web3 regulation, he said.
Abu Dhabi took the step to regulate DeFi and Web3 activities back in November, coming into effect across September 2026.
By doing so, code-only financial operations are aligning with global financial governance standards ending decades of financial invisibility for DeFi assets.
Fixing the Risks of Digital Assets On-Chain
Whilst blockchain itself is a form of regulation by default, through its construction, there are other risks for Web3: the smart contract risk.
For example, you have a building: you transfer the token but the building’s deep in the ground; now you have a mismatch. Illia outlined the need for regular regulators to regulate for Web3, whilst also outlining the need for enough technology to run autonomous agents.
Designing Regulation for AI by AI
Looking ahead, Illia described AI as fundamentally redefining how organisations operate.
“People may still work, but a lot of the operational decisions will go to AI,” he said.
Bylaws, rule-following, fiduciary duties, and judicial processes – all traditionally human-led -can increasingly be executed autonomously.
However, today’s corporate law assumes companies must have natural persons in executive roles. AI-run organisations challenge this assumption.
“You cannot register a company that has no people,” Illia noted, highlighting the absence of regulated interfaces for autonomous entities.
To address this, Illia predicts that regulatory frameworks for AI-operated firms will emerge between 2027 and 2028.
In this model, token holders provide governance – setting guardrails, defining mission, and approving strategy – while execution is delegated to autonomous AI agents. Humans define intent; machines deliver outcomes.
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