ML
Markus Levin is a co-founder of XYO, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) that collects and verifies real-world data such as location through a network of consumer devices.
He works alongside co-founder and CEO Arie Trouw and has long served as the project's main public spokesperson, with an undated company listing also describing him as head of operations at XY, the Findables Company. Before XYO he was co-founder and CEO of Hive Media Group, a role that ended in 2016. XY Labs began in 2012 working on Bluetooth location trackers, and the XYO Network and its token launched in 2018 as a decentralized location oracle.
The network later broadened to general data verification, and its COIN mobile app, which rewards users for contributing data, helped it grow to a reported 10 million plus nodes. In September 2025 XYO launched XYO Layer One, a data-focused blockchain with a second token, XL1, used for gas and rewards. Levin has since promoted XYO as a verification layer for AI, including the XYO AI SDK released in May 2026. He is the most frequent guest on Crypto Coin Show, with seven appearances.
31:29
Latest interview · Aug 14, 2026How XYO is building an audit trail for AI agentsWatch the episode →
Key points
- AI agents are increasingly autonomous in financial decisions and logistics but lack reliable audit trails or verification of their actions and data sources.
- XYO's AI SDK enables non-technical users to build blockchain applications through natural language instructions rather than traditional coding.
- Data provenance on blockchain provides cryptographic proof of AI agent decisions, addressing the hallucination problem where models act on unverified data.
- Most blockchain oracles are not trustless and simply connect data to chain without verifying accuracy, creating potential for false information to be recorded.
- Machine-to-machine payments require verifiable underlying data; third-party verification partnerships help ensure AI agents operate correctly without losing user funds.
In their own words
“So it's important that there's proof of work for robots, basically.”
“It's the fuel that makes it run. If that data is corrupted or wrong, that world doesn't work as well.”
“You are the sucker if you let the big corporations take some of your money while you could earn more doing it yourself.”
“We have all these pieces we built for XYO, so we're just going to build this data layer one.”
Every appearance on Crypto Coin Show
Latest episode shown above.
25:36
35:55
31:47
30:26
29:58
16:25Markus Levin in the news
- XYO taps Autonomys to store machine data while Layer One proves its originSep 29, 2026
- “Vibe Coding” Is Bringing Thousands of Builders to the Blockchain — But AI Still Needs Someone to Check Its WorkAug 14, 2026
- Crypto.com Now Lists XL1 and XYOJul 27, 2026
- AI Can’t Think Straight Without Verified Data. Here’s Who’s Fixing That.Jun 4, 2026
- AI Keeps Lying. The Fix Isn’t a Better Model. It’s Better Data.Apr 25, 2026
