Harshit Tiwari is a blockchain and Web3 professional who has held multiple strategic roles at the NEAR Foundation, focusing on ecosystem growth, business development, and community engagement. He is also known for his contributions to decentralized investment initiatives as a founding member of Hydra Ventures. ^{[1] [2]}​

Education

Harshit Tiwari attended the University of Calcutta, where he pursued a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a focus on Accounting and Finance. He completed his studies and graduated from the institution in 2018. ^[1]​

Career

Tiwari began his career between 2020 and 2021 as a student intern at Digital Kraftsmen. In this role, he was part of the project management team, where his responsibilities included working on finance-related tasks and client relations, as well as providing support for supervisory activities across various contracts. In 2021, he became a core contributor to the NEAR Protocol, marking his formal entry into the NEAR ecosystem. In 2022, Tiwari officially joined the NEAR Foundation, the non-profit organization that supports the growth and development of the NEAR ecosystem. His initial work at the foundation centered on community activation and initiatives related to governance participation. During the same year, he became a founding member of Hydra Ventures, a decentralized investment organization structured as a fund-of-funds Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). He was involved with Hydra Ventures from 2022 until 2026. His role at the NEAR Foundation evolved as he moved into business development. From 2022 to 2023, he focused on driving ecosystem growth, forging strategic partnerships, and developing go-to-market strategies for new protocol initiatives. This led to a more senior position, and from 2023 to 2024, he served as the Senior Web3 Business Development Lead. Since May 2024, Tiwari has held the position of Head of Ecosystem Strategy at the NEAR Foundation, where he oversees the high-level strategic direction for the entire NEAR ecosystem. ^[3]​

Presentations

Future of DeFi

At a 2024 conference on the future of decentralized finance (DeFi), Tiwari highlighted the significant advancements made within the NEAR ecosystem over the past year. Initially criticized for a lack of exciting DeFi projects, the NEAR community collaborated to strengthen its infrastructure, onboard new teams, and enhance existing protocols, resulting in a fivefold increase in total value locked (TVL) and a twentyfold increase in the availability of stablecoins. Tiwari emphasized the introduction of innovative financial applications and cross-chain capabilities that would enable users to engage with various assets seamlessly. Furthermore, he noted that NEAR enabled users to log in with Ethereum-compatible wallets, making the platform more user-friendly. Tiwari also outlined the concept of “near intents,” a multi-chain transaction framework designed to simplify cross-chain operations, which could potentially revolutionize interactions between DeFi and artificial intelligence. Overall, the conference showcased both past achievements and an optimistic future for DeFi on the NEAR platform. ^[4]

Panels

NEAR Ecosystem

In November 2024, Tiwari participated in a panel at the REDACTED conference alongside Iad Frolov (NEAR DevHub), Miao Jiang (Proximity), Marcus Ribeiro (Frontier Growth), and Peter Humaidan (NEARWEEK), where participants discussed developments within the NEAR ecosystem over the preceding year. The conversation highlighted ecosystem growth, including increases in total value locked and stablecoin activity, as well as the introduction of initiatives such as an AI-focused accelerator and expanded developer engagement. Panelists also examined evolving governance structures and infrastructure developments, including mechanisms such as Chain Signatures and the House of Stake model, which aim to decentralize coordination and funding within the ecosystem. The discussion reflected on broader trends in adoption, community participation, and the ongoing development of tools and frameworks supporting the network. ^[5]