Catena Labs plans the first regulated financial institution built for AI-driven payments, launching new protocols and raising $18m.
Catena Labs will create the first fully regulated financial institution built specifically for the AI economy, it announced on May 20.
Alongside the announcement, the company launched an open-source project which sets out new protocols and standards for what they call ‘agentic commerce’, transactions carried out autonomously by AI agents.
These new standards and protocols aim to overcome the biggest hurdle standing in the way of this new era of payments.
“Today’s financial infrastructure creates significant friction for AI agents, with slow, fragile, and expensive legacy payment rails constraining the potential for AI commerce,” said Matt Venables, CTO and Co-Founder of Catena Labs.
Most existing payment systems were designed for humans, not for AI agents, which can act independently. Sean Neville, CEO and Co-Founder of Catena Labs, described the problem clearly:
“AI agents will soon conduct most economic transactions, but today’s financial systems are unprepared and resistant to interactions with automated intelligence.”
Catena’s AI-native financial institution aims to fix this by providing infrastructure built around the specific needs of AI-driven transactions. This includes managing agent identity, building trust, handling risk and ensuring compliance.
What are AI agents?
AI agents are software programmes which can independently carry out financial activities, from making payments to managing investments. This marks a shift in AI’s role in payments, with AI seemingly needing less human oversight.
However, the goal remains to allow professionals to focus on more complex tasks. This has been the driving force behind AI innovation in the industry since its early days.
Such a shift calls for a complete rethink of financial infrastructure. Stablecoins are emerging as the preferred payment method for AI agents due to the currency’s programmability, speed and stability.
“While we are integrating existing payment networks as we bridge into the future, we’re focused on transforming how money moves in the AI economy by using regulated stablecoins that offer near-instant settlement, minimal transaction costs, and easy integration with AI workflows,” Venables said.
Catena Labs is well-positioned in the stablecoin space, drawing on the expertise of co-CEO Neville, who previously co-founded Circle Internet Group and played a key role in creating the USDC stablecoin.
Funding will also be crucial to Catena Labs’ ambitious plans, which are already off to a strong start. The company recently raised $18m in a round led by a16z crypto, with support from notable investors such as Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and others.
“Sean and the Catena team have the expertise to meet that challenge. They’re building financial infrastructure that agentic commerce can depend on, and we’re excited to support their vision,” said Chris Dixon, Founder and Managing Partner of a16z crypto.
