Meta Pool participated in the recent Staking Summit 2025 as part of the panel “Telcos as Web3 Infrastructure Titans: Powering Decentralized Networks.”
Key Takeaways
- Telecom companies (Telcos) are emerging as strategic players in blockchain validation, contributing infrastructure and trust to the Web3 ecosystem.
- Meta Pool drives decentralization on NEAR with programs that professionalize node operation and ensure high technical standards.
- NEAR positions itself at the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence, with an architecture capable of scaling toward mass adoption.
During the session, representatives from telecom giants like Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and Saudi Telecom discussed their growing role in the blockchain ecosystem.
Lucio Tato, co-founder of Meta Pool, shared key insights on the advancement of decentralization and the strategic role of these large corporations.
“We are at a critical moment,” Tato said. “Large companies that choose to enter the world of blockchain validation now will have an advantage. Blockchain technology represents an inevitable evolution in how value is transferred and ownership is exercised in the digital economy.”
Tato emphasized Meta Pool’s commitment to decentralization on NEAR since 2020, from supporting community validators to launching initiatives like Stake Wars and the Enterprise Node Operator Program, the latter aimed at onboarding mid-sized companies with professional validation operations.
“Blockchain is nothing without decentralization. If it’s not decentralized, you’re just using a centralized cloud server. That’s not blockchain,” he stated.
The panel also served as a platform to introduce Meta Pool’s latest initiative: the Professional Node Operator Program (PNO), which aims to raise the technical and reliability standards of validators.
“Thanks to the support of Staking Rewards and its verified provider certification, we were able to design a program focused on nodes that ensure over 99% uptime and effective block validation,” Tato explained.
Beyond technical progress, the panelists discussed how Telcos can leverage their infrastructure to strengthen decentralized networks.
Benjamin Balzer from Deutsche Telekom remarked:
“Our mission has always been to connect people securely. Now we want to apply that same philosophy to Web3, bringing trust to the ecosystem.”
Mohammed Imran Siddiqui of Saudi Telecom agreed, highlighting that their reach and educational capacity will be key to bringing blockchain closer to the general public.
David Palmer, representing Pairpoint (a Vodafone spin-off), shared a vision of connecting billions of mobile devices, IoT, and blockchain technologies to enable a new digital infrastructure based on AI and Web3.
“It’s not just about validating blocks, but about how we connect our infrastructure with protocols like NEAR to enable new digital economies.”
Finally, Tato highlighted the dynamic nature of NEAR as an ecosystem, particularly its focus on artificial intelligence:
“NEAR is not just a blockchain; it’s a platform at the intersection of blockchain and AI. In my view, it’s the only architecture that can scale to serve 8 billion users without collapsing.”
Meta Pool’s participation in this event underscores its role as a bridge between decentralized communities and institutional actors, reinforcing its vision for an inclusive and truly decentralized Web3 future.
