NEW YORK, Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — De¹, the team building a Financial World Model grounded in live market execution, has received investment from YZi Labs. The investment marks the start of De¹’s push to establish an agentic onchain future within the BNB Chain ecosystem, with both sides aiming to define how intelligence should interact with, learn from, and operate within live markets.

De¹ is building the Financial World Model, an intelligence layer trained directly on live markets. De¹ connects 1,000+ liquidity sources across 40+ chains through a unified execution layer, continuously labeling trading outcomes and feeding them back into the Financial World Model so execution quality and market understanding improve together. Built on shared market physics, the model can be specialized across perpetuals, prediction markets, tokenized assets, and other financial environments, while participants’ signals are recorded as measurable contributions to the intelligence they help build.

A broader shift is taking shape across Binance and BNB Chain ecosystem. BNB Chain is seeing the expansion of tokenized equities such as bStocks, while Binance has launched Agent OS to give AI applications access to market data, account functions, and trading infrastructure. Together, these developments point toward a market where more assets are becoming programmable and more agents are gaining the ability to act. Next challenge is building intelligence that can understand and adapt to real market behavior.

As these trends converge, De¹ is positioning its Financial World Model as an intelligence layer for BNB Chain’s next phase of growth. With bStocks expanding programmable assets and Agent OS opening financial infrastructure to AI, De¹ can turn live execution into continuous learning, helping agents move from simple execution to real-time adaptation. The investment from YZi Labs marks De¹’s entry into BNB Chain ecosystem, laying the foundation for AI-native financial applications built on live market intelligence.

De¹ has also indicated that further details will be released through its official channels on how users can participate in the Financial World Model and become part of its contributor ownership framework.

About De¹

De¹ is the intelligent infrastructure platform at the intersection of DeFi and AI, building the Financial World Model grounded in live execution and real market feedback. It serves developers, traders, institutions, and AI agents through intelligent execution, unified liquidity, reinforcement learning optimization, and a continuously evolving data flywheel.

contact@de1.ai

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FRANKLIN, Mass., Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As STOKE Shoes prepares for its next phase of growth, the emerging footwear brand has selected Barrett Distribution Centers as its omnichannel fulfillment and third-party logistics (3PL) partner. STOKE is redefining comfort and fit for consumers seeking premium footwear designed for wider feet.

“Barrett moved quickly, communicated clearly, and understood what we needed as a startup brand preparing for growth,” said Rick Blackshaw, founder of STOKE Shoes. “Their team brought the operational experience, technology guidance, and partnership mindset we needed to support our customers and retail partners from day one.”

Founded in 2025, STOKE Shoes was created to serve men often overlooked by traditional athletic footwear brands, with shoes designed for wide and wider feet. The brand launched with a direct-to-consumer model and has since expanded into retail distribution, including placement in more than 450 stores nationwide.

STOKE’s momentum continues with the recent addition of sports media personality and creator Caleb Pressley as creative lead and partner. Known for his Sundae Conversation interview series and distinctive presence across sports and digital media, Pressley will collaborate with STOKE on creative campaigns, content and brand development. The partnership also includes plans for a signature STOKE shoe expected later this year, adding another dimension to the brand’s growing presence across retail, digital and cultural channels.

Barrett was selected for its experience with start-up and high-growth footwear brands, strong references, responsive implementation approach, and ability to provide scalable omnichannel fulfillment across multiple facilities. STOKE’s team was also impressed by Barrett’s Montebello facility, team energy, operational cleanliness, and technology-enabled approach.

“From our first conversation, it was clear that STOKE had the vision, leadership, and brand discipline to scale quickly,” said Scott Hothem, senior vice president of customer solutions at Barrett. “Rick and his team were looking for more than a fulfillment provider. They needed a partner with deep footwear experience, strong systems expertise, and the ability to support both DTC and retail growth. We’re proud to help bring that vision to life.”

Barrett’s fulfillment capabilities include B2C and B2B omnichannel fulfillment, pick and pack, warehousing, value-added services, managed transportation, retail compliance, and technology-enabled reporting. The company’s national footprint and experience across apparel, footwear, consumer products, food and beverage, health and beauty, and ecommerce make it a strong partner for brands scaling across channels.

As STOKE reaches vast audiences and expands its retail presence, Barrett provides the fulfillment support behind that growth. With experience supporting emerging footwear brands across direct-to-consumer and retail channels, Barrett was selected to help STOKE scale its omnichannel operation.

About STOKE Shoes
Most guys are wearing shoes that are too narrow: 75% of men have wide feet but only 25% are wearing wide shoes. This means squished toes, collapsed arches, and shot posture. STOKE was built to fix all that.  At STOKE, we don’t do “medium.” Our shoes come in two widths: WIDE (E/2E) and WIDER (3E/4E) that actually match your foot anatomy. We’ve designed STOKE around your full foot; not just your length, but your width, girth, and foot splay.

STOKE shoes are made for Splay not Containment so your foot can spread out and do its job.

About Barrett Distribution Centers
Barrett Distribution is a leading third-party logistics (3PL) provider delivering customized warehousing, fulfillment, transportation, and value-added logistics solutions for growing brands. With decades of experience managing complex supply chains, Barrett serves apparel, footwear, consumer products, and other high-touch industries, helping brands scale efficiently and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Barrett has also been recognized as one of Inc.’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America more than 15 times, reflecting its long-term growth and commitment to helping clients succeed. Barrett combines experienced people, flexible operations, advanced technology, and a highly customized approach to meet each client’s unique needs. From direct-to-consumer and ecommerce fulfillment to retail and omnichannel distribution, Barrett provides the expertise and infrastructure brands need to scale with speed, accuracy, and service.

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SOURCE Barrett Distribution Centers Inc.

The U.S. and U.K. firm covers the full path from AI strategy to production systems, including autonomous agents, agentic systems, and custom applications, with every engagement opening with a diagnosis of where the business loses the most time and money rather than a software pitch.

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla., Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — ValueStreamAI, an AI automation company with operations in Pembroke Pines, Florida and Paisley, Scotland, is helping small and mid-sized businesses eliminate the repetitive manual work slowing down their operations, replacing it with AI agents and custom software built around how each business actually runs.

Most AI projects fail for the same reason: the software arrives before anyone has established what the bottleneck is. ValueStreamAI inverts that order. Every engagement opens with what the company calls a Value Stream Diagnosis, a direct review of how work moves through a business day to day, in order to identify where AI would return the most time and money. The diagnosis produces a prioritized 90-day plan, so clients know what gets built first and what the expected return is before development begins.

What follows the diagnosis depends on what the business needs, and Value Stream AI now delivers across four areas.

AI agents and agentic ecosystems. The core of the company’s work. Value Stream AI builds autonomous agents that plan and carry out multi-step business processes end to end, then connects them into agentic ecosystems where multiple agents coordinate across a company’s existing systems, tools, and data. These range from a single agent handling one recurring task to a coordinated set of agents running an entire operational function, including agents that work over voice, email, chat, and internal systems.

Custom software. AI-powered web applications, mobile apps, and internal tools built for businesses whose requirements do not fit an off-the-shelf product. The company also builds generative design pipelines for brands producing visual work at scale.

Strategy and consulting. AI readiness assessments, transformation roadmaps, and governance planning for companies deciding where AI belongs in their operations and, equally important, where it does not.

Managed AI operations. A fully delivered option in which Value Stream AI scopes, builds, and runs the systems on the client’s behalf, so repetitive work is handled continuously without the client adding headcount or managing a build.

Free self-assessment tools, including an ROI calculator and an AI readiness assessment, are available to business owners who want to evaluate their own operations before committing to a project. Owners can access those tools or book a strategy click here.

About Value Stream AI

ValueStreamAI is an AI automation company helping small and mid-sized businesses eliminate repetitive manual work through AI consulting, autonomous agents and agentic systems, and custom software development, with operations in the United States and United Kingdom. Learn more at https://valuestreamai.com.

Media Contact

ValueStreamAI

info@valuestreamai.com

https://valuestreamai.com

Media Contact

Owner, Value Stream AI, 44 7980925309, valuestreamai@gmail.com, info@valuestreamai.com

Muhammad Kashif, Value Stream AI, 44 7980925309, info@valuestreamai.com, https://valuestreamai.com

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SOURCE Value Stream AI