Ex-NFL Star Tom Brady Returns to Crypto With Investment in AI Startup

Tom Brady Cautiously Returns to Crypto with Backing of Catena Labs

Tom Brady, the legendary NFL quarterback, is making a measured but intentional comeback to the cryptocurrency industry. This time, he's lending his support to Catena Labs, a Boston-based startup aiming to build what it calls the world's first AI-native financial institution.

Catena's vision revolves around the concept of "agentic commerce," which involves autonomous AI agents that can transact on behalf of users. The project is being co-founded by Sean Neville, best known for his role in co-creating the USDC stablecoin at Circle.

Catena recently emerged from stealth mode with $18 million in seed funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz's crypto division, a16zcrypto. The funding round also saw support from other notable investors, including Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Stanford Engineering VF, and Breyer Capital, as well as prominent angel investors such as Balaji Srinivasan, Bradley Horowitz, and Kevin Lin.

In a statement, Neville said that Catena's goal is to "give AI agents, and the businesses and consumers they serve, the ability to transact safely and efficiently." The company plans to utilize regulated stablecoins like USDC to power AI-driven transactions alongside traditional payment methods.

However, the project's ambitions have raised concerns, with Europol warning that the combination of blockchain and AI could "accelerate serious and organised crime" in the coming years. The EU law enforcement agency's 2025 Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment even predicts that fully autonomous AI "could pave the way for entirely AI-controlled criminal networks."

Nonetheless, Catena Labs has launched the Agent Commerce Kit, an open-source tool designed to help AI systems verify their identity and make payments independently. The firm believes that existing financial systems are not equipped to handle AI-native interactions, and it is staking a significant claim at the intersection of AI, finance, and infrastructure.

Brady's involvement in Catena Labs comes after his earlier foray into crypto through his endorsement of the now-defunct FTX exchange, which collapsed in 2022 and resulted in a class-action lawsuit against the athlete. Despite the FTX debacle, Brady is now cautiously returning to the crypto space, hoping to find success with Catena Labs.

Prior to his involvement with Catena, Brady co-founded the NFT platform Autograph, which raised $200 million before pivoting from NFTs to focus on digital collectibles.