Dr. Shevchenko holds a Ph.D. in physics and math and has over a decade of experience in IT, specializing in blockchain and high-performance computing. Before founding Aurora, he helped develop Bitfury’s Exonum, one of the first Layer 1 enterprise blockchain platforms, and has been investing in blockchain scalability solutions since 2015.
As Co-founder and CEO of Aurora Labs, Dr. Shevchenko is leading the development of a multichain infrastructure stack built on the NEAR Protocol. Aurora provides an EVM compatibility layer and a platform, Aurora Cloud, that allows teams to launch their own interconnected ‘Virtual Chains’ that inherit NEAR’s scalability and security.
We recently sat down with Dr. Alex Shevchenko, CEO of Aurora Labs, to discuss the evolution of blockchain scalability and the critical shift from focusing on transactions per second to improving user usability.
Read more about Aurora’s vision for a seamless, user-centric multichain experience in the interview below.
How did your experience across physics, mathematics, and high-performance computing shape the way you now define scalability and your approach to leadership?
Blockchain is a highly technical and complex field, so having a strong technical background is very helpful. The performance computing and simulation work I did aligns well with blockchain. In both cases, you have many computers working together on the same complex problem. Therefore, the transition was straightforward for me. I simply continued building efficient, multi-tenant infrastructure where many independent actors collaborate toward a common goal.
In leadership, my primary role is to remove obstacles and ensure people understand what matters. Everyone should have a clear area of responsibility and the resources to work independently. This is even more important when people are working on complex topics. I enjoy working with people I can learn from. Being the “dumbest person in the company” is exactly what every CEO should strive for.
After helping build Exonum at Bitfury and now leading Aurora, what core infrastructure challenge do you still see as unsolved in blockchain today?
Blockchains have made significant progress. We can program them, scale them, and run sophisticated logic. But the biggest challenge left is usability.
What still bothers me is how we can make this complex technology invisible while keeping it decentralized and trustless. People shouldn’t have to think about chains, bridges, or gas fees. That’s not what drives mass adoption. It should feel like using HTTPS: you just see the little green lock and know everything works. Blockchain should reach that same level of simplicity.
What drove Aurora’s evolution from an EVM compatibility layer into a multichain infrastructure stack?
From the very start of the Aurora project, we recognized that scalability was key. NEAR had already solved scalability at the base layer, but EVM remains largely non-scalable. Even if you succeed in creating EVM transactions that can run in parallel, as some projects aim for, the way EVM functions is centered on a few core primitives. About 50% of transactions on the Ethereum mainnet only interact with a small number of Uniswap pools. This cannot be parallelized. The same goes for the biggest tokens, stablecoins, wrapped ETH, etc.
So instead of trying to push one EVM to its limits, we adopted a different approach: many EVMs working together. We designed Aurora so that multiple Virtual Chains could operate in parallel, each as a smart contract on NEAR, all connected through a shared interoperability layer. It must have all the tokens. It must have all the connectivity. It must connect to centralized exchanges and custodians. All of this needs to be available by default from the first block.
That’s how Aurora Cloud was born. It’s a platform for launching new EVM chains that inherit NEAR’s scalability and security while connecting to existing infrastructure from day one. This was the goal from the very beginning, and I’m very happy we accomplished it.
How are teams using Aurora Cloud to launch their own Virtual Chains, and what advantages does this model give them compared to deploying a traditional L1 or L2?
The main difference between Virtual Chains and L2s is that Virtual Chains are interconnected, both with each other and with the NEAR Protocol itself. That eliminates the cold-start problem. Every chain has immediate access to bridges, indexers, DeFi protocols, custodians, stablecoins, centralized exchanges, and several other pieces of infrastructure that are essential for a chain.
Each Virtual Chain also inherits NEAR’s decentralization, with roughly 500 validators on the NEAR blockchain validating and executing blocks from the very first block. Since NEAR is a scalable blockchain, transaction costs remain below 1 cent, and performance remains steady. In practice, a single Virtual Chain can provide up to 10 times the compute capacity of the Ethereum mainnet while still maintaining decentralization.
How does the NEAR Intents-powered Calyx allow for cross-chain launches that prevent liquidity fragmentation?
NEAR Intents is a powerful technology, and its first use case is a cross-chain swapping solution. We have always listened to founders who launch their own chains, want to launch tokens, and attract communities from different ecosystems, not just one. That’s why we built Calyx, a multichain launchpad.
Calyx makes that possible. Founders can launch their tokens once, and users from any supported chain can participate directly with the assets they already hold. NEAR Intents simplifies cross-chain execution so users don’t need to manually bridge, wrap, or swap tokens.
Think of it as an excellent payment solution. It’s like using your bank card abroad: you pay in another country, and the system automatically handles the conversion. Calyx does the same for token launches, providing projects with exposure across all major ecosystems simultaneously.
How close are we to achieving Intent-based architecture that makes cross-chain interactions invisible to end users, and what hurdles remain before that becomes standard?
We already have this for basic use cases such as cross-chain swaps and transfers. That part is functioning today.
But that’s only the first step. DeFi involves many other activities, including staking, yield generation, liquidity provision, looping strategies, and vaults, and Intents need to manage all of these consistently. Outside of DeFi, there are also NFTs and many other areas to consider. So we’re still early, but we’re progressing quickly. The goal is to make cross-chain interactions completely seamless for users, and we’re getting closer with each iteration.
Has Aurora moved beyond its original role as a sandbox for NEAR to become an independent network family?
Aurora is deeply connected to NEAR, and that partnership remains vital. Over the past five years, we’ve been one of the leading contributors to the NEAR ecosystem. I firmly believe in NEAR’s approach to scalability, and its technical excellence is unmatched.
Apart from being just a business relationship, it’s also about creating the best possible foundation. NEAR’s horizontally scalable architecture is ideal for Virtual Chains. Although we can envision similar models in other ecosystems, our collaboration with NEAR is far from ending.
How do you think the rise of dedicated stablecoin chains will reshape DeFi infrastructure and user experience, and what can Aurora do to support or empower those builders?
Stablecoin chains are similar to payment networks like Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX. You have the big three, followed by several smaller ones. Each has its own standards and user base. This fosters healthy competition, but it also increases complexity for developers who must support multiple standards. The same situation is happening with stablecoin chains.
Aurora doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Our role is to ensure we can integrate with all of them and provide a neutral, interoperable infrastructure layer. Competition will ultimately benefit users through better rates and more options, even if it makes the technical landscape a bit messier.
As Aurora scales Virtual Chains and intent-based infrastructure, what role do you envision it playing in a unified, user-centric multichain experience over the next few years?
User experience has always been at the core of Aurora’s ideology. We aim to provide a very straightforward interface for users to interact with.
We started with free transactions, introduced Aurora+ for a user-friendly interface, built Aurora Pass as a native wallet, and now, with Calyx, we’re making token launches easier across chains and enabling users to interact with these assets cross-chain.
We are building several interesting things on the intents at the moment. Everything we build aims to make blockchain interaction straightforward, fast, and consistent. You can expect Aurora to keep launching products that make multichain experiences seamless and unified.
How do you see the relationship between users, liquidity, and intent execution evolving, and what role can infrastructure providers like Aurora play in defining that next-generation experience?
I see the world moving in two directions. First, users have clear goals, such as transportation, knowledge, food, or simply making a purchase. These are called intents. Systems are gradually becoming more skilled at fulfilling these intents. Currently, AI-enabled searches are not quite as good as using Google, but that will change. Personalized AIs will assist in solving these intents.
Second, we have passive consumption, like scrolling through feeds or watching videos, where we don’t even know what we want. We’re just consuming content. In the future, user-owned AI agents will personalize these experiences responsibly, optimizing not for attention but for the user’s time and long-term goals. I really want to be part of this version of the future. That’s why I believe NEAR’s focus on user-owned AI is so important. This resonates deeply with me.