a16z leads $18 million seed round for Catena Labs, as crypto industry bets on stablecoin AI payments
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a16z leads $18 million seed round for Catena Labs, as crypto industry bets on stablecoin AI payments
Catena Labs is a fintech startup aiming to "build an AI bank from scratch," focusing on providing dedicated financial infrastructure for AI agents.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: Zhouzhou
On May 20, Circle co-founder Sean Neville announced that his new venture, Catena Labs, has successfully raised $18 million in seed funding.
The round was led by a16z Crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and NFL star Tom Brady.
Chris Dixon, founding partner and managing partner at a16z crypto, said: "Sean Neville and the Catena team have the expertise to tackle this challenge. They're building financial infrastructure that agents can rely on, and we're excited to support their vision."
Will AI Start Its Own Bank?
Catena Labs is a fintech startup aiming to "build an AI bank from scratch," focusing on providing dedicated financial infrastructure for AI agents—such as smart payments, identity verification, and low-cost settlements. The company plans to establish the world’s first fully regulated, AI-native financial institution.
Traditional payment rails assume a human on one end of every transaction, leading to delays like 3-day ACH transfers and high fees for credit card payments (up to 3%).
Current financial systems remain stuck in the "human serving human" paradigm, often flagging automated activities as fraud and forcing manual reviews. This slows innovation and limits the real-world functionality of AI agents.
Catena aims to enable "AI serving AI," allowing your AI assistant to open accounts, transfer money, manage finances, and even negotiate business deals with other AIs. Software agents should be able to pay and get paid instantly and securely.
It operates at the intersection of AI and fintech, with a focus on AI-driven financial services and decentralized identity—a space now attracting massive capital interest.
From USDC to AI Banking: Circle Co-Founder's Second Act
Catena Labs was founded by Circle co-founder Sean Neville. Initially established in 2021 to explore AI and decentralized identity, it formally pivoted in 2023 to focus on building an "AI-native financial system."
Neville, formerly an engineer at Adobe and co-founder of Circle Internet Group, Inc., led the design and development of USDC. In April 2025, Circle filed for IPO with a valuation of approximately $5 billion.
Neville stepped down from operational roles at Circle in early 2020 but remains on its board. After leaving, he immersed himself in AI research, becoming convinced that we are entering an AI-native era—an idea that became the foundational philosophy behind Catena Labs.
In 2021, Neville co-founded a technical research studio with Matt Venables (now co-founder and CTO of Catena Labs) to explore emerging technologies such as AI and decentralized identity—the origin of Catena Labs.
The current Catena Labs team consists of just nine members, drawn from world-class organizations including Meta, Google, Jump Crypto, and Protocol Labs. Their website accepts open applications, indicating active global recruitment.
Catena Labs has already developed open-source protocols enabling AI to act as users' "bank representatives." The company explicitly states it does not plan to issue any cryptocurrency or stablecoin for now, though investors will receive equity with token warrants.
Rebuilding the Financial System with AI
"Neville is the only person qualified to lead the creation of the first AI-native bank," said Jim Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital. "Integrating AI into commerce requires rebuilding financial infrastructure. Legacy systems don’t always keep up—that’s why Catena is so compelling."
Neville predicts that future financial transactions will be entirely executed by AI agents. The team envisions a future where AI goes beyond chatting and image generation to actually "earning, spending, and managing money," becoming independent economic participants.
Catena Labs hasn't launched any tokens or products yet, but it recently open-sourced the Agent Commerce Kit (ACK)—a financial protocol framework built specifically for AI, centered on two key concepts: AI agent identity verification and automated payments.
Catena aims to solve traditional finance’s shortcomings for AI—slow payments, high costs, poor automation compatibility. ACK is their first step: using stablecoins for fast settlement and standardized protocols for identity verification, ultimately enabling AI to have its own "bank accounts" and "financial services" like humans.
While specific product plans haven’t been revealed, they intend to eventually offer API access for developers and enterprises to integrate into a new AI-driven financial ecosystem. Though still in development, the direction of the ACK framework shows their ultimate goal: rewriting the foundational logic of the entire financial system with AI.
Summary
Catena Labs is a highly promising early-stage project positioned at the intersection of AI and fintech. Founders Sean Neville and Matt Venables leverage their proven success with Circle and USDC to lead a lean nine-member team that secured an $18 million seed round led by a16z.
Their vision of AI-native finance, open-source protocols (ACK), and flexible integration with stablecoins demonstrates strong industry foresight. Despite lacking a live product, their robust funding and industry backing give them significant competitive advantage in AI-driven finance.
Going forward, Catena Labs’ success will depend on product execution speed and ecosystem development.
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