From being an excellent mathematics student to owning a huge sum of around $2 billion, Illia Polosukhin’s journey is one to emulate. Illia Polosukhin’s transition into the crypto space as a developer has yielded immense wealth and is a major contributor to his billion-dollar net worth. The Ukrainian tech guru is renowned for his contributions to co-founding the NEAR network, which is gaining attention in the crypto sector.
Today, Illia has many titles, including computer scientist, crypto guru, entrepreneur, CEO, and multibillionaire. Illia Polosukhin developed an interest in science and digital tech from a young age. He studied courses related to his area of interest and would soon leverage his knowledge to create the NEAR blockchain. Illia is currently among the wealthiest men in his age group.
Also, it would be no surprise if Illia Polosukhin’s net worth increased as NEAR continues to improve its perks, user base, and overall income. This article traces Illia Polosukhin’s life, education, and entrepreneurial career. We will also explore the facts and figures of Illia Polosukhin’s net worth. So, stick around and find out the monetary value of the popular Ukrainian crypto guru.
Illia Polosukhin: Early Life and Education
Illia Polosukhin (@ilblackdragon) was born and raised in Ukraine. In a popular interview with Alejandro Cremades, Illia admitted being raised in the 90s, when hyperinflation plagued his nation.
At the age of 10, Illia Polosukhin was intrigued by the tech and sci-fi elements used in the classic movie The Matrix. This fueled his passion for digital tech development and science. Illia Polosukhin enjoys Russian science fiction literature, particularly the works of Heinlein and Asimov.
Illia Polosukhin studied Applied Math and Computer Science at the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”. He bagged his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the institution and continued to practice the field after graduation. Polosukhin began learning and writing code from the age of 10 and beyond, admitting he “couldn’t stop coding” when asked about his career development.
After developing an interest in cryptocurrency, Illia Polosukhin tried to enhance crypto with tech. His knowledge and experience in the field enabled him to integrate AI into the cryptocurrency sector effectively.
He would soon co-found the NEAR protocol, strengthening the network with artificial intelligence technology. Currently, Illia Polosukhin is an ICPC champion with over 10 years of experience in artificial intelligence and natural language processing.
Illia Polosukhin: Career
The Ukrainian began his career at Salford Systems, where he worked as a developer in the software engineering department. He was in charge of developing new tools for big data predictive analytics, text mining, geo mining, and refining the existing Salford Predictive Miner toolkit.
In 2014, he left Salford Systems to join Google AI, where he worked as an AI engineer until 2017. He also managed a team of researchers focused on Deep Learning and Natural Language Understanding.
Before leaving Google, Illia Polosukhin worked on TensorFlow (specifically TF.Learn, also known as SKFlow). Although Illia made a sustainable income from his previous jobs, his post-Google career significantly affected his wealth.
In 2017, Illia co-founded the NEAR Foundation, primarily for AI development. However, the company metamorphosed into providing blockchain services, skyrocketing Illia Polosukhin’s net worth.
What is Illia Polosukhin’s Net Worth?
At the time of writing, based on data from multiple sources, Illia Polosukhin’s estimated net worth is $2 billion. This figure is merely approximated, as Illia Polosukhin rarely discloses his personal life and income information. However, based on NEAR’s market valuation details and his share in the company, Illia’s wealth is estimated to be around $ 2 -2.5 billion.
Beyond NEAR Foundation, Illia Polosukhin also partners with other businesses and has multiple investments. Specifically, Illia works as a General Partner at SID Venture Partners. It is worth noting that SID Venture Partners has a market valuation of about $12 billion, making it a crucial stream of income for the Ukrainian serial businessman.
Illia Polosukhin has also made around 22 personal investments, the latest being the Seed Round – Youlify on April 16, 2025. Others include Clear Street, 3Box, Kurtosis, ClayStack, Syndicate, KYVE, SEDA, Datrics, 1inch, Sitehop, Luda, etc.
NEAR Protocol
Founding NEAR was Illia Polosukhin’s most notable innovation, but he didn’t do it alone. On June 1, 2017, Illia partnered with Alexander Skidanov to establish NEAR for AI enhancement. The idea for NEAR began with Illia’s participation in high school and college programming competitions. The company was initially named NEAR AI but was not related to blockchain tech in its early days.
NEAR Protocol was initially used to find and recruit students, particularly those in computer science. However, the co-founders faced labor remuneration challenges, as paying employees overseas using fiat currency was difficult.
To solve the problem, the team cut into studying cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and smart contracts. After searching and failing to find suitable platforms to build their applications, Illia and his team developed the NEAR Protocol to serve their needs.
Since its introduction into crypto, NEAR ($NEAR) has established itself as a top-tier crypto network. Illia Polosukhin claimed he contacted over 300 blockchain projects while developing the network.
Illia tried to understand their challenges so his team could work on providing solutions and avoiding such problems in the NEAR blockchain. Today, NEAR is a popular layer-1 blockchain that enables the creation and execution of decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts.
NEAR Foundation
The NEAR Foundation is a Switzerland-based non-profit organization that supports the NEAR Collective’s mission. On November 7, 2023, Illia Polosukhin was appointed the CEO of NEAR Foundation to oversee the growth of the NEAR Open Web Ecosystem. He was also responsible for guiding the constellation of teams building on NEAR and working together towards establishing an open web blockchain.
NEAR Foundation established the NEAR Data Availability (NEAR DA) after Illia’s appointment. This technology enables developers to reduce costs and enhance the reliability of their rollups while maintaining Ethereum’s security.
Blockchain Operating System (BOS)
Illia Polosukhin introduced BOS for the NEAR blockchain on March 2, 2023. The tech, publicized during the ETHDenver Conference, aims to enable browsing and discovery of Web3 products, including exchanges, NFTs, and social networks.
According to Illia Polosukhin, “Underneath Near, you can use an Ethereum app or a Canto app or whatever. So we’ll have the [Near] presentation layer, but on the back end, the smart contracts can be on any chain.”
Transformer 8
Transformer 8 is a team of eight former Google AI co-workers (Illia Polosukhin, Jensen Huang, and six others). After publishing the now-famous 2017 paper “Attention is All You Need“, the team entered the limelight.”
Illia’s foundational work with the “Transformer 8” built his reputation and expertise in AI, which then became a key asset when he ventured into the blockchain space with NEAR Protocol.
Illia Polosukhin’s Philanthropy
Illia Polosukhin is involved in multiple philanthropic activities, notably regarding providing support for civilians caught in the Russo-Ukrainian war. He and several Ukrainian crypto “whales” led cryptocurrency fundraising efforts to support people affected by the war.
To formalize their philanthropic efforts, Illia and other contributors named the movement the UnChain Fund. To date, the UnChain Fund has received approximately $7 million in cryptocurrency donations from interested individuals.
Whenever the fund receives a crypto donation, it converts it into fiat currency using local crypto exchanges. After conversion, volunteers of the Unchain Fund, which is based in Ukraine, purchase essential items and distribute them among civilians who have become trapped in conflict areas or had to evacuate their homes.
Bottom Line
Illia Polosukhin’s estimated net worth of $2 billion is a testament to his unwavering passion for tech and crypto development. The Ukrainian businessman also has several personal investments and shares in high-value companies, including SID Venture Partners. Illia is also a writer, philanthropist, and the co-founder of NEAR protocol. We can all agree that, all things being equal, Illia’s wealth may skyrocket as NEAR’s user base increases and its popularity grows.
