In a world where Web3 projects are often born in far-flung Discord channels and Zoom calls, it is strikingly old-school that Cintara, the first agentic AI-native blockchain, grew out of a team that lives within minutes of each other in Virginia. Its four leaders, who have known each other for up to twenty years, not only work together but also share barbecues, dinners, and a deep mutual trust.
Subodh Shetty, Cintara’s CTO, is characteristically understated about this. “We’ve known each other for years,” he says. “I’ve known Sam [the CEO] for almost 20 years, Minhaj Arifin [the COO] for 15. Greg Adams [the CCO] joined more recently, but even before that he was at our barbecues.”
That closeness is more than anecdotal. It is a rare advantage in Web3, where most projects operate remotely across time zones. “It makes a big difference,” says Shetty. “Instead of everything being on Zoom, we can just meet in person and solve problems faster. There’s a high level of trust that you don’t always get with distributed teams.”
AI + Agents + Confidential Blockchain
Cintara’s pitch is both ambitious and deceptively simple: a blockchain with AI built in at its core. “Most blockchains are ledgers, they just record transactions,” says Shetty. “Cintara is a blockchain with an AI co-pilot. Instead of passively recording events, it can actively solve problems.”
The difference comes from what Shetty calls “agentic AI.” Cintara enables AI agents to live natively on the chain. These agents can monitor transactions in real time, detect fraud before transactions are approved, optimize gas fees, or trigger compliance workflows.
A key innovation is the agent registry, a decentralized directory of AI agents. “Think of it like an app store,” says Shetty. “Enterprises and developers onboard their agents, Cintara registers them on-chain, and anyone can discover and use them. Payments and permissions are all handled automatically by the blockchain.”
Cintara’s validators do more than secure the chain. They also contribute CPU and GPU capacity to a decentralized compute marketplace that lets developers rent AI power on demand.
“Most blockchains reward validators only for processing transactions,” says Shetty. “On Cintara, they can also earn rewards for running AI tasks. It’s a flywheel that benefits everyone, users, developers, and validators.”
Built on Cosmos, Designed for Enterprise
Cintara is built on Cosmos, an intentional choice for scalability and interoperability. Before committing to building its own L1, the team ran multiple proofs of concept on Ethereum L2s, but found Cosmos better suited for the heavy AI workloads they had in mind.
Privacy is handled through a partnership with Secret Network, another Cosmos-based project. By running AI models inside Secret’s secure virtual machines, Cintara can process highly sensitive data, from healthcare records to financial transactions, without exposing it, even to validators.
“We are running a proof of concept where a validator node with an LLM is operating inside a Secret VM,” says Shetty. “It proves we can validate blocks, run AI tasks, and keep all the data fully confidential. That’s crucial for regulated industries.”
Roadmap and Early Customers
Cintara is currently live on public testnet, with a fully EVM-compatible chain and a validator node running an LLM. The next milestone is the launch of its agentic AI marketplace, scheduled for late October or early November.
The company is already working with early adopters, including Drip Capital, a leader in global trade finance. Shetty explains: “When a seller signs an invoice, even before the goods are shipped, Drip Capital pays the seller so they don’t have to wait for delivery. With Cintara, they’re exploring how autonomous AI agents can streamline KYC and AML verification, bring more transparency, and reduce friction in cross-border settlements. The result is faster processing, fewer disputes, and stronger compliance, all of which directly benefit their customers.”
Two additional pilots are underway: one with a healthcare provider exploring AI-enhanced patient data verification, and another with a firm automating tax document generation directly from blockchain transactions.
The Team Behind the Vision
Cintara’s leadership brings more than 80 years of combined experience in enterprise technology, AI, and Web3. CEO Sam has been working in AI since his graduate school days 25 years ago, long before generative AI became a buzzword. Shetty himself has built and scaled software at startups and tech giants alike, including Amazon, where he worked on machine learning solutions for real-world support scenarios.
Arifin, the COO, has deep experience in Web3 startups and is responsible for operational execution and validator onboarding. Adams, the CCO, has led monetization strategies and successful exits at multiple startups, now focused on enterprise positioning and go-to-market strategy.
Together, they provide vision, technical depth, operational discipline, and commercial reach. “Swapnil drives the why,” says Shetty. “I drive the how. Minhaj makes sure it happens. And Greg makes sure the world hears about it.”
