San Diego, CA, November 6, 2025 — Roundtable and RYVYL Inc. (NASDAQ: RVYL) today announced the legendary Web3 investor Aly Madhavji has agreed to join the soon-to-be merged company as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), bridging his unique background with traditional financial credentials with deep relationships and experience managing over 200 investments in blockchain infrastructure technology.
As CFO, Madhavji will help guide Roundtable’s continued progress through the merger process and NASDAQ listing while connecting the dynamic blockchain investment community with Roundtable. Current RYVYL CFO George Oliva will transition to the role of Chief Financial Officer of the merged entity upon completion of the merger.
Madhavji’s financial credentials are as impeccable as his in-depth knowledge of the Web3 sector, bringing relationships with over 500 blockchain co-investors from all continents, including his home base of Singapore.
Roundtable CEO James Heckman praised Madhavji’s leadership and expertise, stating, “In over 30 years of financing and operating technology companies, I have not met anyone with more intensity and thoroughness as a board member and investor, which matches his technical and financial acumen. His contributions have been so impressive that we invited him to join this unique opportunity to transform a unique industry vision for our revolutionary platform for both traditional and blockchain-focused investment communities.”
Madhavji is a licensed Chartered Accountant (CA, CPA, CMA, CIM) with a Masters in Global Affairs from Tsinghua University (清华大学), an MBA from INSEAD (Singapore/France), where he was a Blockchain Fellow, and a BA in Commerce with distinction from the University of Toronto, where he serves on the Governing Council of Toronto. An international award-winning author and featured speaker at major Web3 conferences, Aly is also a contributing analyst for leading crypto publications and the acclaimed star of Amazon Prime Video’s series Crypto knights. His Roundtable board seat will mark his second NASDAQ service, following his position at Soluna Holdings.
Madhavji commented, “I join Roundtable as CFO because Roundtable has turned the media industry’s long-awaited Web3 vision into practical reality. The RYVYL merger brings bank quality payments and public market discipline; our platform gives publishers what they’ve wanted for years: real-time earnings, transparent reporting and control over their data, audiences and IP, only possible with Web3. After diligent and invest in hundreds of blockchain infrastructure teams, this is what stands out; and why the Blockchain Founders Fund made the Roundtable our largest investment, which is why I’m stepping in to lead our NASDAQ journey and align the Roundtable with both traditional and crypto-focused investors.”
Madhavji joins a veteran leadership team led by digital media entrepreneurs James Heckman and blockchain pioneer Eyal Hertzog. Hertzog, co-founder and architect of Roundtable’s “DeWeb” platform, is widely recognized as the technical inventor of decentralized finance (DeFi), including automated market making and the liquidity pool mechanisms that underpin the transformative industry – and brought it to market as the lead architect and founder of Bancor. He also co-founded the first social video platform, MetaCafe, whose recommendation algorithm helped shape the foundations of social media.
A serial founder and former executive at Yahoo, Google and News Corp, Heckman has built and scaled more than a dozen technology platforms, including Arena Group, which ran digital media for over 300 global brands. He is joined by longtime technology collaborator and co-founder Bill Sornsin as COO, a former senior product manager at Microsoft and co-architect of several global platforms with Heckman.
Together, this leadership team developed Roundtable, the first large-scale, enterprise-level Web3-powered media platform that integrates decentralized payments, transparent real-time reporting, and on-chain audience and data control, creating next-generation infrastructure for professional publishers and media networks worldwide. Heckman’s former company, Arena, became a nine-figure public company that runs publishing and monetization for global media brands, including Sports Illustrated, Maxim, History.com, and TheStreet. His previous roles include Head of Global Media Strategy at Yahoo!, Chief Strategy Officer at Fox Interactive and architect of the $1 billion advertising alliance between MySpace, Google, led the team that built Hulu’s original business model and created the first “Premium Marketplace”, partnering with AOL, Yahoo!, MSN and the top dozen major media companies.
In all, Heckman has created and published and/or sold to major digital media outlets ten major ventures, including Rivals.com (acquired by Yahoo!), Scout.com (acquired by Fox), 5to1.com (public, acquired by Yahoo!), NFL Exclusive and Arena. Remarkably, every company he founded succeeded with sustainability and large industrial scale.
Visionary partners and board members
Roundtable co-founders and strategic partners include incoming chairman Walton ComerXBTO co-founder, Lucid Holdings co-founder, which sold to CINT for nearly $1 billion, and founding investor of Deribit, recently sold to Coinbase for over $3 billion; Aly MadhavjiManaging Partner in Blockchain Founders Fund; David BaileyCEO of Nakamoto, Bitcoin Conference and Bitcoin Magazine; Mike Alexander, former CEO of Jefferies Asia and CEO of Bullish’s EOS Venture Capital Fund; W. Graeme RoustanRoundtable co-founder, former chairman of Bauer Hockey, True Sports CEO and CEO of The Hockey News, first major network to publish on-chain with Roundtable; and Brock PierceTether co-founder and early Bitcoin visionary.
Merger details
A definitive agreement has been signed between RYVYL (NASDAQ: RVYL) and Roundtable. Closing remains subject to shareholder approval and standard regulatory review. Upon completion of the merger:
- James Heckman becomes managing director
- Walton Comer becomes chairman and leads a board of seven members
- Aly Madhavji remains CFO (from Roundtable), in the merged companies
- George Oliva will remain as EVP/Finance and Chief Accounting Officer, reporting to Heckman
- The company changes its name to RTB Digital, Inc.doing business as “roundtable”
- Six directors will be appointed by RTB, and RYVYL independent director Brett Moyer retained; all other sitting directors in RYVYL resign.
About the Roundtable (RTB Digital, Inc.)
Round table is a Web3, digital media SaaS platform company that provides white-label, full stack distribution, community, publishing and monetization for professional media brands and journalists – strengthened and driven by a digital liquidity pool integrated into the platform. Visit RTB.io.
About RYVYL
RYVYL Inc. (NASDAQ: RVYL) operates a digital payment processing business that enables transactions across the globe, including payment solutions for underserved markets. RYVYL has developed applications that enable an end-to-end suite of turnkey financial products with enhanced security and data protection, world-class identity theft protection and fast settlement. www.ryvyl.com
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
This press release contains information that constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current beliefs, assumptions and expectations regarding future events, which in turn are based on information currently available to the Company. Such forward-looking statements include statements characterized by future or conditional words such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”, “estimate” and “continue” or similar words. You should read statements containing these words carefully because they discuss future expectations and plans, contain projections of future operating results or financial conditions, or state other forward-looking information.
By their nature, forward-looking statements deal with matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those expressed or anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Risk factors affecting the company are described in detail in the company’s filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the proposed merger between the Company and the target (the “Parties”), the expected completion of the proposed merger and the timing thereof, and as adjusted descriptions of the Company following the transaction and its operations, strategies and plans, including the management team and board of directors of the Company following the completion of “the merged entity” (the Merged Company). There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements included in this press release. These include: the risk that the parties’ businesses will not be successfully integrated and the risk that cost savings, synergies and growth from the proposed merger may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; the possibility that the company’s stockholders may not approve the issuance of new shares of the company’s common stock in the merger or that the company’s stockholders may not approve the merger; the risk that a condition to the completion of the merger is not satisfied, that one of the parties may terminate the definitive agreement, or that completion of the merger may be delayed or not occur at all; potential adverse reactions or changes in business or employee relations, including those resulting from the announcement or completion of the merger; the risk that the parties will not receive regulatory or other approvals of the merger; the occurrence of any other event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement or changes to the transactions; the risk that changes in the Company’s capital structure and management may adversely affect the market value of its securities; The Parties’ ability to retain customers and to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with their suppliers and customers and on the Parties’ operating results and business generally; the risk that the merger may distract the parties’ respective managements from ongoing business activities or cause the parties to incur significant costs; impact on the parties’ plans for value creation and strategic advantages, market size and growth opportunities, regulatory matters, competitive position and interest of other companies in similar business strategies, technological and market trends, future financial conditions and results and expected financial consequences of the merger; the risk that the parties are unable to reduce expenses or access financing or liquidity; the impact of any economic downturn; the risk of changes in government regulations or enforcement practices; and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated and the risk factors discussed in documents by the Company filed or to be filed with the SEC, which are or will be available on the Company’s website at www.ryvyl.com and on the website of the SEC at www.sec.gov.
RYVYL IR Contact:
Richard Land, Alliance Advisors Investor Relations
973-873-7686 ryvylinvestor@allianceadvisors.com
Roundtable PR contact:
Mehab Qureshi, RTB Digital Inc.
+91 90289 77198, mehab@roundtable.io