PANews reported on May 20 that according to Fortune magazine, Catena Labs, newly founded by Circle co-founder Sean Neville, has completed a $18 million seed round of financing, aiming to build an "AI native bank." This round of financing was led by the a16z encryption department, with Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and football star Tom Brady following suit.

Neville predicts that financial transactions will be entirely executed by AI agents in the future. Catena Labs has developed open source protocols to standardize AI payment and digital identity verification processes. The company has made it clear that it will not issue cryptocurrencies or stablecoins for the time being, but investors will receive equity with token warrants. It is worth noting that Neville still serves as a director of Circle. Catena Labs currently has a team of only 9 people, and its technology will integrate but not rely on stablecoin solutions.