NFL legend Tom Brady returns to the crypto scene with an $18 million investment in Boston-based Catena Labs, despite his previous involvement with the failed FTX exchange.
Tom Brady is once again placing a high-stakes bet on the future of cryptocurrency. The seven-time Super Bowl champion has been named among the investors in Catena Labs, a Boston-based crypto startup blending artificial intelligence and digital finance.
The announcement, made on Tuesday, marks Brady’s return to the volatile world of crypto after his widely publicized endorsement of the failed exchange FTX. Catena Labs revealed it had raised $18 million in funding from Brady and several prominent venture capital firms, including a16z crypto in California, Breyer Capital in Texas, and Boston’s own Pillar VC. Notably, former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano and ex-Google VP Bradley Horowitz also contributed to the funding round.
One of Brady’s earlier ventures into the digital currency market ended in controversy. He reportedly received $30 million in compensation for backing FTX, which collapsed in 2022. The platform’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud. Brady, along with other celebrity endorsers such as David Ortiz and Stephen Curry, continues to face a lawsuit from investors who lost money during the FTX downfall. However, a judge recently dismissed most of the claims in that case.
Catena Labs was founded in 2022 by Sean Neville and Matt Venables, who both have deep roots in the crypto sector. Neville co-founded Circle Internet Group, a leading Boston-based cryptocurrency firm known for its USDC stablecoin, which has over $60 billion in circulation. Venables served as a senior executive at the same company before it relocated its headquarters to New York earlier this year.
In a statement, Neville described Catena’s mission as becoming an “AI-native financial institution” designed to facilitate secure and efficient transactions between AI-powered software agents.
“Catena aims to become an ‘AI-native financial institution’ that can transact with the coming wave of AI agents ‘safely and efficiently,’” Neville said.
Boston’s crypto scene has remained largely dormant since the FTX collapse, even as other cities have experienced renewed activity amid federal support for the digital asset economy. Before the Catena Labs deal, Massachusetts-based crypto startups had collectively raised just $3 million in 2025, compared to the $6.4 billion secured nationwide, according to research from Pitchbook.
Brady’s investment could signal a resurgence in the city’s crypto ambitions. His involvement not only brings star power but also renewed attention to a sector many had written off after a series of high-profile failures.
Brady’s agent, Don Yee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
