Sean Neville, co-founder and CEO of Catena Labs (and co-founder of Circle), joins the show to explore the rise of AI economics and what it means for the future of payments, trust, and financial systems. From stable coins powering machine-to-machine transactions to identity layers for AI actors, Sean unpacks the building blocks that could reshape how value flows online. This episode is for anyone curious about the intersection of AI, crypto, and the next era of digital finance.
Key Takeaways
• AI actors are evolving into full economic participants, capable of executing payments and workflows.
• Stablecoins provide a more efficient and borderless payment rail compared to legacy systems, especially for AI-driven transactions.
• The biggest hurdle isn’t technology—it’s trust, identity, and accountability in agent-to-agent interactions.
• B2B use cases are likely to adopt AI-powered payments faster than consumer markets due to inefficiencies in existing flows.
• AI to human payouts and human to AI pay-ins will likely arrive before true AI-to-AI payment systems go mainstream.
Timestamped Highlights
00:33 — What Catena Labs is building: a regulated AI-native financial institution
03:16 — Why the internet is becoming agent native and what that means for AI economics
05:35 — The trust hurdle: how AI can move from 60% reliable to 99.9% through tuning and workflows
08:38 — Why legacy payment rails aren’t built for AI actors and how stablecoins change the game
11:59 — The missing piece: agentic identity and why it matters for accountability
15:48 — Could AI actors one day open bank accounts? Building toward semi-autonomous financial participation
19:06 — Why B2B transactions will likely see AI payments before consumers do
24:26 — Stablecoins vs. crypto: why digital dollars are the foundation for AI-native payments
Memorable Line
“If I can’t trust a chatbot to get a chocolate cake recipe right, how can I trust it with my money? Yet at the same time, this is the worst it will ever be—it’s only getting more capable at an unprecedented pace.” – Sean Neville
Resources Mentioned
Catena Labs – catenalabs.com
Sean on X – @PSNeville
Call to Action
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