Sean Neville, co-founder of crypto giant Circle, has launched a bold new initiative that aims to transform the future of finance with artificial intelligence. Circle Co-Founder Sean Neville Raises $18M to Build ‘AI-Local Bank’ with Catena Labs His startup, Catena Labs, has raised $18 million in seed funding to build what he calls an “AI-powered bank.” The funding round, announced today, was led by the crypto investment arm of Andreessen Horowitz and included participation from Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and NFL icon Tom Brady. Investors received equity stakes as well as token warrants, which are rights to a future cryptocurrency that has yet to be released. Neville, who helped found Circle in 2013 and remains on its board, said his new company aims to fundamentally reshape financial infrastructure for a future where transactions are conducted by artificial intelligence, not humans. “There will not be any people or businesses directly performing financial transactions. In the future, there will be just intermediaries, just AIs,” Neville said. Catena Labs represents Neville’s latest investment in a major technological wave. After leaving his operational duties at Circle in early 2020, Neville spent a year researching developments in the field of artificial intelligence. The former Adobe software engineer said he emerged from the stint convinced that the internet had entered an “AI-native” era. In 2021, Neville and Matt Venables, a former senior engineering manager at Circle, founded a venture studio to explore new technologies like decentralized identity and artificial intelligence. By 2023, following the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, they have decided to build the financial infrastructure for an AI-driven future. The goal is to design a financial system where AI agents, not humans, interact, process payments, and manage financial decisions. Neville envisions a world where consumers are represented by digital intermediaries, interacting with banks, advisors, and services through AI. *This is not investment advice. Continue Reading: Crypto Giant Circle's Co-Founder Is Preparing to Launch an AI-Based Bank! Here Are the Details
