In this episode, Lex is in conversation with Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation and enterprising fintech entrepreneur and operator. Lex and Marieke talk about Marieke's origin and motivations in her journey, and discuss business structure, fintech strategy, and web3 protocol strategy. Near foundation enables community-driven innovation to benefit people around the world. They are a non-profit foundation headquartered in Switzerland that is responsible for contracting protocol maintainers, funding ecosystem development, and shepherding core governance of the NEAR protocol.