Jun Kim

Investor relations @hashed_official. All opinions are my own & not financial advices. Based in Seoul, frequently in Tokyo and HK. Never fade the supercycle.

[Jun Kim @junkim]

When new highways are built, who captures the tollgate?

Whenever a new technology emerges, people tend to ask the same questions.

“What can we build with this?”
“What should we build to get rich?”

These aren’t wrong questions. But if you look at the pattern of technological history, a more profitable question always sits underneath:

“Who stands at the point where money flows through this system?”

1. Railroads

• Railroads made the world faster. Everyone assumed railway companies would make the most money.
• But railroads were capital-intensive, heavily regulated, and ultimately margin-constrained.
• The real money wasn’t in the tracks themselves, but around them.
• Logistics, distribution, and urban hubs won.

2. Cars and Highways

• When automobiles took off, it seemed manufacturers would dominate.
• Reality turned out differently. Roads became public goods, and manufacturing turned into a margin game.
• Value shifted to oil, insurance, finance, and retail.
• And more importantly, to those who designed the rules of the network.

3. The Internet

• Early on, many believed network owners would control everything.
• But connectivity itself quickly became commoditized.
• The real value emerged not in infrastructure, but in the gateways.
• Search, advertising, marketplaces, and platforms defined the winners.

4. Mobile and App Stores

• With smartphones and app stores, developers looked like the new kings.
• But the real tollgate belonged to Apple.
• The 30% fee is not a business model.
• It is control over who gets to pass.

5. Card Networks

• @Visa and @Mastercard are not consumers, banks, or merchants.
• Yet they consistently capture value.
• The reason is simple:
• Transactions are optional. Passing through the network is not.
• And because a single monopoly would become a point of failure, a strange equilibrium persists.

The pattern repeats:
1. A new path opens
2.Everyone builds on top of it
3.Competition erodes margins
4.Value concentrates at the point of flow

Now: Blockchains and agent economies

Today, as infrastructure meets markets again, people ask:

“Should we launch an L1?”
“Should we issue a token?”
“Which chain should we build on?”
"Should our company start using @openclaw?"

But the better question remains the same:

“Where does the money enter, and where does it exit?”

A simple analogy:

• CBDCs resemble highways built by states
• Stablecoins resemble alleyways that emerge organically

This is not a question of construction capability.
Both are necessary for the system to function.

So where is the money?

Not on the highway.
Not in the alleyways.

It materializes at the tollgate that connects them.

-

In a world where both highways and alleyways are being built simultaneously, people will always find a way. If one path is blocked, they will climb mountains or cross oceans.

One thing is certain:

even the person crossing a strait on a raft, or hiking through remote terrain, can now transact - thanks to global connectivity layers.

So the question collapses into one:

Where is your tollgate?

[T.P @0xTP91]

Start your AI journey.

@virtuals_io 🫶 @AskVenice

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@KiKi_Blockverse @BoredApeYC @mfigge @Apesofkorea @ApeChainHUB Trusted 🇰🇷

[Jun Kim @junkim]

bored ape yacht club

[figge @mfigge]

Today we're making changes to ApeCoin.

Yuga Labs and ApeCo (fka Ape Foundation) coordinate, but operate in parallel. To keep the orgs and leaders in sync, a coordination tax is paid in additional handoffs and added decision-making checkpoints.

This made sense when the lack of regulatory clarity forced crypto to contort into strange formations just to ship.

That era is over, and we need to reset from first principles.

Simpler, with less coordination tax.

Cam helped build and lead ApeCo, and he’s fully aligned with me on this reboot. With the reset, the separate ApeCo lead role no longer makes sense in the same way. Cam is stepping down from that role.

The core ApeChain tech and BD teams will now work directly with Yuga, so the chain and its partners will be well served. Some other members of ApeCo will be departing - they’re really great people and we’re thankful for their hard work. This transition will be complete by June 5th.

ApeCoin should not feel like a separate bet from all the other progress Yuga is making with its brands. Everywhere else we are building holders with real conviction and ApeCoin will be no different.

So I’m currently planning a roadshow in June with key and prospective partners, exchanges, investors, institutions and community members in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul. We’re going to show up in person and build the relationships that move BAYC, Otherside, and ApeCoin forward together.

This is a first step, but not the only step.

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@NewarBrian @official_naver

[Jun Kim @junkim]

gm from seoul

the first thing I see on the korean portal site @official_naver

is an ad saying "happy 10/10 day"

lmao I shrinked

more like no one wanted to jinx it but we did survive the buddha beam day which was yesterday

here's to the crypto market that's on the brink of becoming an actually robust, infrastructure-based, coherent market where the open web and the real world are finally meeting in the middle

we were so early for a long time

and now we're so early at another nearing boundary

ready for the new world

wagmi, lfg, and gazua

have a great one ahead frens 😉

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@BoredApeYC good candle

[Jun Kim @junkim]

Still early.

Back to work.

[T.P @0xTP91]

We are all building towards the same vision.

Launchpad LUV, not wars.

Let’s suppok each other and keep growing the pie.

Still early.

Back to work.

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@NathanYJLee 역시 일상의 즐거움을 live 하라.. 항상 감사드립니다 선배님

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@ethermage virtuals.

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@mfigge @OthersideMeta such boring

[Jun Kim @junkim]

korea is built different

we build things out of nowhere

then we are something together

always different yet the same at heart and soul

@virtuals_io wins

[Virtuals Protocol @virtuals_io]

오픈소스 개발자분들을 모십니다.

한국에도 뛰어난 오픈소스 빌더들이 많지만, 대부분은 안정적인 후원이나 수익 구조 없이 개인 시간과 생활비를 들여 개발을 이어가고 있습니다.

버추얼은 이 구조를 바꿀 수 있는 새로운 실험을 함께하고 싶습니다.

트레이딩 수수료만으로는 부족합니다. 그래서 저희는 ACF(Automated Capital Formation)를 통해 오픈소스 빌더들이 더 지속 가능한 방식으로 프로젝트를 키우고, 커뮤니티와 함께 성장할 수 있는 새로운 메커니즘을 실험하고 있습니다.

오픈소스 프로젝트를 더 크게 키우고 싶은 분들, 글로벌 커뮤니티와 연결되고 싶은 분들, 새로운 자금화 모델을 함께 고민해보고 싶은 분들을 찾고 있습니다.

- 작게 시작한 프로젝트도 괜찮습니다.
- 이미 유저가 있는 프로젝트도 좋습니다.
- 아직 아이디어 단계여도 좋습니다.

관심 있으신 분들은 편하게 DM 주세요. 커피챗도 환영입니다.
슬슬 K-오픈소스 빌더들의 힘을 보여줄 시간입니다.

[Jun Kim @junkim]

https://t.co/aO853aVch7

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@MINHxDYNASTY @legendtrade nice I was about to try out my model portfolio methodology I developed on @HyperliquidX hm

[#Hashed @hashed_official]

Last week, Nitro by Hashed hosted its first public Demo Day at the Hashed Lounge in Seoul — marking the official debut since rebranding from Hashed Vibe Labs.

Over an 8-week deployment sprint (Mar 3 – Apr 24), four teams shipped relentlessly alongside 20+ fellows spanning open source, data science, cybersecurity, product, finance, and creative. Selection wasn't based on decks — it was based on shipped product, iteration speed, and user signal. Investment closed within a week of selection.

Meet the cohort:
🔹 Elyn — AI character companion
🔹 GPTO — B2B solution for AI Answer Engine Optimization (AEO·GEO)
🔹 KYRO — gamified running app
🔹 GGUI — generative UI protocol for AI agents

The afternoon closed with a panel — "Building in the Age of the Agentic Economy" — and a few takeaways from @simonkim_nft's keynote that we keep coming back to:
• "Everything you can see is now open source." With frontier models, a screenshot becomes a working clone in 30 minutes. Building is no longer the bottleneck.
• What matters now is the taste to know what to build, and the network to build it with the right people — at global scale from Day 1.
• The new definition of a VC isn't who writes the check. It's who builds at the same altitude, in the same language, alongside the founder.

Nitro is our bet on that thesis: a small, obsessed group moves fastest. Huge thanks to the founders, fellows, and friends who shipped, showed up, and pushed each other.

More to come.

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@Punk9277

[Jun Kim @junkim]

kaito always wins

[Yu Hu 🌊 @Punk9277]

hiring across the board for the next phase of kaito (more coming soon publicly - join now and help shape it)

- marketing lead (singapore w/ visa sponsorship, or remote)

- BD manager & associate (singapore w/ visa sponsorship, or US-based)

more details: https://t.co/E6qc3yJUJ9

[ADGM @ADGlobalMarket]

ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) has granted @hashed_official Global Management Limited (HGML) a Financial Services Permission (FSP), enabling HGML to conduct regulated activities in or from ADGM, including advising on investments or credits, arranging deals in investments, managing assets, and managing a collective investment fund.

This milestone reinforces ADGM’s position as an international financial centre with a forward-looking regulatory environment supporting innovation, fintech, and digital assets, and reflects growing momentum as leading global firms choose ADGM and Abu Dhabi to establish and scale regional operations.

Read more via: https://t.co/OiCefadadE

منحت سلطة تنظيم الخدمات المالية (FSRA) في أبوظبي العالمي شركة Hashed Global Management Limited (HGML) تصريح خدمات مالية (FSP)، مما يتيح لها مزاولة أنشطة خاضعة للتنظيم داخل أو من خلال أبوظبي العالمي، بما في ذلك تقديم المشورة بشأن الاستثمارات أو الائتمان، وترتيب الصفقات في الاستثمارات، وإدارة الأصول، وإدارة صناديق الاستثمار الجماعي.

ويعزز هذا الإنجاز مكانة أبوظبي العالمي كمركز مالي دولي يتمتع بإطار تنظيمي متقدم يدعم الابتكار والتقنيات المالية والأصول الرقمية، كما يعكس الزخم المتزايد مع اختيار شركات عالمية رائدة لأبوظبي العالمي وأبوظبي لتأسيس وتوسيع عملياتها الإقليمية.

[Jun Kim @junkim]

@WatanabeSota 🔥

[tcgnative @tcgnative]

1/ Most of you know me from my 7+ years in crypto.

What most of you don't know: my obsession with TCG started long before any of that. Over the past decade I've been to more card shows than crypto conferences.

Which is why this one means a lot.