​AI agents moved from copilots to economic actors faster than the infrastructure around them.

​In financial services alone, non-human identities already outnumber human employees 100 to 1. Agents are executing tasks, transacting, and coordinating at scale — yet they remain effectively unbanked. They lack verifiable credentials, portable permissions, and any standardized way to prove who they represent or what they're authorized to do.

​The bottleneck for the agent economy is no longer intelligence. It's identity.

​This identity will ultimately evolve and expand into self-sovereign identity for Embodied AI. Humanoids and other robots interacting in the wild ultimately creating the machine economy.

​This X Space explores the infrastructure gap at the core of the machine economy: the missing "SSI for agents" — a common identity layer that lets humans, machines, and AI agents prove who they are and interact securely across decentralized networks.

​What we'll cover:

​→ KYA (Know Your Agent) — why cryptographic credentials for agents are the new KYC, and what early implementations look like today

​→ Machine Passports — how blockchain-based identity systems give agents portable, verifiable identities across chat apps, APIs, and marketplaces

​→ Governing AI-run systems — what accountability looks like when agents vote, allocate capital, and manage supply chains

​→ Who controls the model controls the outcome — why decentralized identity is an infrastructure challenge, not a policy one

​The a16z crypto research team recently framed it plainly: until a common identity standard emerges, merchants will keep blocking agents at the firewall. We're already seeing onchain agent registries, ERC standards for "trust-minimized agents," and wallet-native identity primitives emerge. But the race is still wide open.

​This conversation isn't theoretical. The infrastructure is being built now — and the identity layer will determine the architecture of every agentic system that follows.

​Join us to explore who gets an identity, who grants it, and what's at stake for investors and builders in the machine economy.

​Speaker & Moderators

​Joining by
→ Rich Robinson — Founding Chair, The Intercognitive Foundation
→ Adel Elmessiry, Ph.D. — Founder & CEO, AI DCT
→ JC — VP of Marketing, 0G
→ Maximilian Plank — Managing Partner HK & Middle East, Tenity
→ Irfan Khan — CMO, Tashi Network

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​Bios

​Rich Robinson - Founding Chair | Intercognitive Foundation

​About: Rich has spent more than three decades in Asia as an advisor, entrepreneur, exec, professor, and investor. As Founding Chair of The Intercognitive Foundation, he leads the industry group with the vision to make the Physical World Accessible to AI. As Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Animoca Brands, he empowers users to own their digital identity and assets. Previously with 8 startups as a co-founder or senior exec, and with dozens of others as an investor, board member, advisor or mentor (HAX, Chinaccelerator & 500) and much more.

Max Plank - Managing Partner, Hong Kong & Middle East | Tenity

​About: Max is Managing Partner of Tenity and Head of Hong Kong and the Middle East, and Program Lead of the Tenity GoGlobal Bootcamp — a premier initiative bridging Chinese and Hong Kong companies to international markets. A serial entrepreneur and active investor, he has spent his career building business corridors between the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, with operating experience across diverse industries — enterprise software, fintech, and consumer.

​He is the official Global Ambassador of Cyberport Hong Kong for the Middle East, author of the KSA Fintech Opportunity Report 2025, senior advisor to the board of Stabelton (Switzerland), and an EXCOM member of the INSEAD Saudi Arabia Alumni Association. He sits on multiple advisory boards and is a frequent speaker on cross-border expansion, fintech, and market entry

​Dr. Adel Elmessiry - Founder & CEO | AI DCT

​About: Adel has spent more than two decades as a scientist, entrepreneur, and investor at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and decentralized infrastructure. As Founder of AI DCT, he advances the vision of verifiable, tokenized AI infrastructure for the on-chain economy. As President, CTO, and Co-Founder of AlphaFin, he's building decentralized financial ecosystems to empower the global economy. Previously with 3 startups taken from inception to acquisition, currently Independent Director at ALT5 Sigma (NASDAQ:ALTS), UN Rep for the Creators Union of Arabs, and BitAngels Nashville City Leader, and much more.

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​Hosted by BitAngels x Intercognitive 📅 May 7, 2025 | X Space (Virtual) 🔗 Set a reminder — link shared before the Space goes live

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​​About the Organizers 

​​About BitAngels: The worlds Premier blockchain Angel Investor Network -  Notable investments include a 7-figure position in Ethereum's 2014 ICO at $0.30 as well as helped manage and cleared 70% of Mastercoin (the first ever ICO) in 2013. Other notable investments include Tether and EOS. 

​​Intercognitive Foundation: About Intercognitive Foundation: Making the physical world accessible to AI. Intercognitive unites top Embodied AI stakeholders to set industry standards, drive research, and grow the ecosystem — accelerating the shift from Agentic AI to Physical AI,with the goal to Enable AI to interact with the physical world in the most optimal, ethical, and human-centered manner, prioritizing safety, accessibility, and societal benefit.