a16z crypto show When Bots Have Bank Accounts: The Rise of the Agent Economy (With Sean Neville, Catena Labs)
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Mar 3, 2026 Sean Neville, co-founder of Circle and Catena Labs and architect of USDC, discusses the rise of an agent-native economy powered by programmable dollars and AI banks. He explores how AI agents might earn, spend, lend, and manage assets. Topics include KYA (Know Your Agent), programmable spending policies, secure agent communication standards, and the infrastructure needed for safe agent-to-agent payments.
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AI Agents Need Their Own Banks
- As dollars move onto internet rails via stablecoins, a new class of AI economic actors will emerge that need banking services tailored to agents.
- Sean Neville argues these agents will require payments, FX, returns, lending, and autonomous asset management similar to a bank for AIs.
Encode Trust Into Software Using KYA
- Trust in AI agents can be encoded into software using cryptography and internet-public rails rather than relying solely on human-tethered regulation.
- Sean says we must build KYA (Know Your Agent) systems and policy layers that let good bots transact while keeping bad actors out.
Design Risk Systems That Welcome Good Bots
- Build risk systems that assume bots are legitimate participants but can differentiate and block malicious bots.
- Implement identity verification, agent-specific policies (e.g., spend limits), and post-action auditability before granting money permissions.
