Circle co-founder Sean Neville, now CEO of Catena Labs, has announced plans to establish an AI-native financial institution following an $18 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Crypto. The project aims to utilize artificial intelligence to create a fully regulated banking system that accommodates both AI agents and human collaborators. Neville emphasized that traditional financial systems are struggling to adapt to the rise of AI agents, which are becoming significant players in the economy. The existing financial infrastructure, described as slow and inflexible, impedes the growth of the AI economy. To address these challenges, Catena Labs will develop an institution that enables efficient and secure transactions using AI-native money, specifically stablecoins. They also introduced an open-source Agent Commerce Kit (ACK) designed to support the integration of verifiable agent identity.

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