RTB Digital Hits Nasdaq, Wielding AI and DeFi to Overhaul Media

SEATTLE, WA – May 13, 2026 – A new and ambitious player in media technology, RTB Digital, Inc., began trading on Nasdaq today under the ticker “RTB,” following a complex merger with the financially embattled RYVYL Inc. The public debut marks a critical moment for a company that claims to have engineered a “multi-generational leap in technology” designed to fundamentally rewire the $200 billion premium media industry.

Operating under the brand “Roundtable,” the company positions itself as the world’s only full-stack enterprise media platform built on a novel combination of artificial intelligence, decentralized finance (DeFi), and Web3 infrastructure. The goal is to solve what its leadership describes as a structural crisis in media: the devaluation of human-created content by AI, opaque revenue systems, and outdated, fragmented technology stacks that hinder publishers. The merger with RYVYL, a blockchain payments firm that had been struggling, was approved by an overwhelming 99% of its voting shareholders, providing RTB a direct pathway to the public market.

“We have been building and refining our media platform for 30 years,” said James Heckman, CEO of RTB Digital, in a statement. “The big leap came when we combined assets with DeFi inventor, Eyal Hertzog and his brilliant ‘DeWeb’ team, uniting as AI technologies began to extract value from media at an existential level.”

The ‘Web4’ Gambit

While the tech world is still grappling with the implications of Web3, RTB is already promoting a vision for “Web4.” In the context of its platform, this term represents a deeper integration of autonomous AI systems with the trustless, transparent nature of decentralized finance. The platform is engineered to automate operational costs, provide immutable financial reporting, and secure intellectual property for publishers and journalists.

This is not merely a theoretical concept. The company reports that its platform is already live, driving revenue for enterprise clients including Yahoo and TheStreet. It also powers a network of independent sports journalists, including the recent migration of top revenue-generating publishers formerly associated with Sports Illustrated. This connection stems from CEO James Heckman's previous tenure at Maven (later The Arena Group), the platform that once operated Sports Illustrated.

The technological backbone of this vision comes from co-founder Eyal Hertzog, a prominent figure in the crypto space best known for inventing foundational DeFi technologies like automated market makers (AMMs) at Bancor. His “DeWeb” technology, which RTB acquired, uses DeFi rails for real-time, transparent payment processing and reporting, aiming to eliminate the delays and opacity common in digital advertising revenue shares. By combining this with AI-driven tools for content management and business intelligence, Roundtable aims to offer a single, unified system that replaces the patchwork of disconnected services media companies currently rely on.

A Merger Born of Strategy and Necessity

The path to Nasdaq was not a traditional IPO but a reverse merger with RYVYL Inc. An analysis of RYVYL’s recent history reveals a company facing significant headwinds. The payment solutions firm had reported declining revenues, consistent net losses, and had received a deficiency notice from Nasdaq for failing to meet the minimum stockholder equity requirement. For RYVYL shareholders, the merger represented a strategic pivot and a lifeline, swapping a struggling business for an 85% stake in a venture with a bold new vision and an experienced leadership team.

The transaction shores up the combined entity’s balance sheet, which RTB claims is sufficient to fund operations for more than a year. It also satisfies Nasdaq’s equity requirements, securing the coveted public listing. The deal structure includes a significant one-year lock-up on approximately 85% of the ~13.2 million outstanding shares, a move designed to foster stability and signal long-term commitment from insiders.

“This team has consistently proven to be years ahead of the industry, and their latest platform is no exception,” stated George Oliva, former CEO of RYVYL and the incoming Chief Administrative Officer of RTB, reflecting the sentiment that drove the near-unanimous shareholder vote.

A Battle-Tested Leadership Team

Underpinning RTB’s ambitious claims is a leadership team of serial entrepreneurs with a history of building, scaling, and selling media technology companies. CEO James Heckman’s career is a map of digital media’s evolution. He founded sports media giants Rivals.com and Scout.com, both of which were acquired. He later founded Maven, growing it into a nine-figure public SaaS platform that operated hundreds of professional brands. His resume also includes high-level strategy roles at Yahoo! and Fox Digital, where he was involved in creating Hulu's original business model and architecting a billion-dollar ad alliance between Google and Myspace.

Paired with Heckman’s media and market expertise is the deep technological prowess of Eyal Hertzog and a team of co-founders including COO Bill Sornsin, who has worked with Heckman across multiple ventures from Scout.com to Maven. This combination of traditional media-savvy and native Web3 innovation is RTB's core strategic advantage. They are not outsiders trying to apply blockchain to media; they are veterans of both worlds attempting to merge them.

Empowering Creators in the Age of AI

At the heart of RTB’s mission is a promise to protect and empower human creators. The company argues that as large AI models are trained on the vast library of content on the internet, they are effectively extracting value from publishers without compensation. Roundtable’s platform is designed to counteract this trend by using AI to protect content, encrypt data, and ensure creators maintain control over their intellectual property and audience relationships.

The platform's DeFi component is crucial to this empowerment. By offering what the company calls “net-zero payments” and “immutable, transparent reporting,” it aims to give publishers real-time access to their earnings without the typical 30-to-90-day waiting periods and opaque fees charged by intermediary ad tech networks. This transparency and efficiency, RTB argues, is only possible through a decentralized ledger.

Further bolstering its market position, RTB announced it has a binding agreement with an undisclosed major media company, which includes a non-refundable $10 million deposit—a powerful vote of confidence in its technology and business model. As RTB begins its life as a public company, it faces the immense challenge of transforming a legacy industry. With a seasoned team, disruptive technology, and a clear vision, it is now poised to prove whether its 'Web4' platform is truly the future of media.