Every business is a media business — now, more than ever! People are the living embodiments of their brands. We are drawn to faces every time: either to the personalities behind the brand, or to the brand personified. Think of Nike's Just Do It, Apple's creative rebel archetype, or how people drink a can of Red Bull to wake up the spirit of adventure. The reality is that the internet is filling up with AI; over 50% of traffic is now bots. In the next five years, every "faceless" part of business will be automated. Anything that can be perfectly executed will become a commodity, and human authenticity will become your ultimate premium asset. This is the reason I invest time into my personal brand, attend so many live events, and help shape team culture at @Yellow. We are building two types of rails: We contribute to the agentic economy by providing durable rails so that AI agents can transact without limits, eventually allowing people to reclaim their own time. We also invest in our own people so they invest in us and help the company keep growing when execution becomes commoditized. It's right around the corner, and we want to be prepared when the time comes. If you're also in Bangkok, let's catch up. Wednesday 22 April, 11:10–11:25 Duration: 15 mins Location: MoneyPot Stage I’d love to talk about the agentic economy, the future of Web3, and how we navigate this transition as a business.

A Sustainable Path Forward for Yellow: VCs Refunded After deep reflection, we’ve decided to refund 80% of the initial raise to our VC investors who believed in Yellow when it was just a vision. It’s not the conventional path, but it is the only path that stays true to why we started. Let me explain why 80% of the initial capital goes back to early VCs, and what it means for the future of the Yellow community. The story has its roots more than 20 years ago at the European Space Agency. I was a passionate software engineer who helped launch rockets; then I left my job to build a semantic search engine as an entrepreneur. In 2008, the crisis hit and everything collapsed overnight. That experience forged one of my principles: don’t trust anyone until the money is actually in the bank. Promises tend to vanish the moment the world shakes. In 2013, I became the “S” in GSR, after my surname, Sirkia. Growing a market-making company in crypto turned out to be the perfect sandbox to further explore the nature of human relationships and the role of trust. But what looked like a winning lottery ticket swallowed me whole, and I had to check into a clinic to reclaim my health. The first days of my 21-day water fast were hell, but I walked out with the kind of clarity that only comes through fire. Ever since, I have deeply recognized the gift of Satoshi. Seeing the industry from the inside out, I admired the idea of trustless payments and a store of value that doesn't rely on trusting governments or banks. I simply couldn’t accept the centralized, custodial, and gated status quo of trading. I wanted to take what Satoshi showed was possible and extend it into the world. So I joined forces with @0xYellow and @camille_yellow to co-found Yellow. We were solving one problem after another to ultimately allow for value to move instantly and almost as freely as data. Today, more than 500 builders ship on our open-source SDK. The $YELLOW token is a big part of the ecosystem now, and its sustainable future is a high priority for everyone on the team. Refunding seed investors is a natural extension of my past experiences, and of deep care for the vision we bring to life. Capital always comes at a cost, typically at the expense of relationships with the community of token holders. We refuse to let that happen at Yellow. By refunding 80% of the initial raise, we make sure that the network is owned, operated, and rewarded by the people who build on Yellow, who use Yellow, and who want Yellow to thrive. Refund is our way to honor the community, to protect our ecosystem's future, and to stay true to our core vision. Yellow is now lighter, faster, and more than ever aligned with the people who use and secure the network. — Alexis & the Yellow team