Tria Secures $12 Million Funding to Advance Self-Custodial Neobanking for Human and AI Agents

Executive Summary

Self-custodial digital bank Tria secured $12 million in pre-seed and strategic funding to build a global neobank for humans and AI agents, signaling bullish market sentiment for user-friendly Web3 solutions.

The Event in Detail

On October 14, 2025, Tria announced the successful closure of a $12 million pre-seed and strategic funding round. The financing included participation from P2 Ventures, Aptos, Tria's community, and executives representing Polygon, Ethereum Foundation, Wintermute, Sentient, 0G, Concrete, and Eigen. Polychain and Polygon also served as pre-seed advisors. This capital injection is earmarked for the development of a self-custodial neobank and payments infrastructure intended for both human users and autonomous AI agents.

Financial Mechanics

Tria's platform offers users the ability to spend, trade, and earn from a single self-custodial balance, aiming to eliminate complexities such as gas fees, cross-chain bridges, and seed phrases. The company's Visa card operates in over 150 countries and supports more than 1,000 digital tokens, enabling instant, seamless, and fee-free transactions. Trades are optimized through Tria's proprietary BestPath engine, which also allows idle assets to earn yield that automatically repays card balances. The underlying technology, BestPath AVS (Autonomous Value Settlement), is a decentralized settlement marketplace where solvers, routers, and relayers compete to facilitate instant cross-chain transactions. BestPath AVS currently routes payments and trades for over 250,000 users and is utilized by more than 70 protocols and AI ecosystems, including Polygon, Arbitrum, and Sentient.

Business Strategy & Market Positioning

Tria positions itself to address a critical gap in cryptocurrency adoption: simplifying usability. Similar to how neobanks like Revolut and Monzo streamlined traditional finance by abstracting complexity, Tria seeks to enhance Web3 accessibility without compromising self-custody. The company's strategic focus includes serving the projected growth in AI-driven financial transactions; it is anticipated that over 25% of global digital payments, equivalent to approximately $25–30 trillion annually, will be executed by AI agents by 2030. Tria aims to be a foundational component in this shift, functioning as both a consumer neobank and programmable payments infrastructure. The team comprises alumni from prominent entities such including Binance, Polygon, OpenSea, and the Ethereum Foundation.

Market Implications

This funding round for Tria underscores a bullish market sentiment towards infrastructure development and user-friendly Web3 solutions. The successful raise indicates confidence in the future adoption of self-custodial models that prioritize user experience. In the short term, this development is expected to stimulate increased competition and innovation within the self-custody wallet and cross-chain payment sectors. Projects are likely to accelerate efforts to streamline user interfaces, reduce transaction costs, and integrate AI-driven functionalities for enhanced security and efficiency. The broader market is witnessing a paradigm shift towards combining the security of self-custody with enhanced convenience and intelligence, moving from "not your keys, not your crypto" to "your keys, your AI-powered, seamless financial autonomy." This trend suggests an accelerated integration of cryptocurrencies into daily finance, potentially increasing transaction volumes and fostering broader mainstream adoption. On-chain volume is projected to reach $100 trillion by 2030, with a significant portion of current users still navigating complex interfaces.

Broader Context

The funding received by Tria highlights a growing industry focus on making blockchain technology more accessible and integrated into everyday financial activities. The convergence of self-custody and artificial intelligence within financial services marks a significant evolution. This includes the development of financial tools that merge robust security with advanced automation and convenience, contributing to a more inclusive and efficient global financial system. The emphasis on abstracting technical complexities like gas fees and seed phrases is crucial for expanding the user base beyond early adopters to a wider mainstream audience and enabling autonomous financial operations for AI agents.