Press Release
Ethereum’s rising and you’re just watching? Katana gives you a reason to act
Posted:
| Last updated: June 3rd, 2025
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Katana, powered by the KAT token, is engineered to deliver deep liquidity across protocols such as Morpho (lending), Sushi (spot DEX), and Vertex (perpetual DEX). By leveraging five distinct sources of yield, Katana introduces a unique DeFi experience tailored for degens, large investors, and institutions alike, backed by strategic partners Conduit, Chainlink, and Blockworks.
The Katana Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to building the best DeFi experience in the world for all users, has officially announced the private mainnet launch of Katana. This DeFi-optimized blockchain has been designed to enhance asset productivity by ensuring consistently high yields and superior liquidity. Unlike the disjointed and fragmented nature of traditional DeFi, Katana consolidates liquidity into a curated set of protocols and channels all possible yield sources into a self-sustaining DeFi engine with a long-term vision.
Pre-deposits are now live, allowing users to earn KAT tokens for participating early. The public mainnet launch is expected in June.
Developed with the support of GSR and Polygon Labs, Katana is debuting with several strategic allies, including:
- Conduit, the leading rollup platform with over $4 billion in total value locked (TVL) across supported chains.
- Chainlink, the industry’s most adopted decentralized oracle network, provides secure, reliable data feeds for DeFi core features.
- Blockworks, a prominent crypto media outlet and data provider, contributes content and deep ecosystem analytics.
A Unified and Optimized DeFi Network
Katana was built for everyone. As DeFi users continue to drive the majority of on-chain activity, Katana allows them to access higher yields and experiment with DeFi legos in a high-efficiency, yield-optimized environment.
The platform is tailored to deliver the kind of yields risk-taking users want, unlocking latent value through a cohesive ecosystem that maximizes the productivity of every asset, offering more sustainable and competitive returns than other networks.
Institution-Ready by Design
As the DeFi sector matures, institutional involvement is expected to grow. However, key pain points persist: fragmented liquidity and substantial value leakage continue to undermine capital efficiency. Katana is engineered to overcome these barriers by ensuring deep, concentrated liquidity, reduced slippage, and stable borrowing and lending rates.
Backed by Industry Leaders
- GSR will provide liquidity management and support for cross-chain operations while also identifying and nurturing innovative DeFi protocols through its venture arm.
- Polygon Labs has played a crucial role in Katana’s early development, offering strategic support, technical guidance, and ecosystem coordination through its Agglayer Breakout Program.
“We’re proud to support the Katana project, our role reflects GSR’s growing focus on incubation and advisory,” said Jakob Palmstierna, President of GSR. “We’re not just providing capital; we’re helping to architect accessible and sustainable DeFi ecosystems. With Katana, we’re applying our market expertise to unlock real yield and concentrated liquidity.”
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, added: “DeFi users deserve ecosystems that prioritize sustainable liquidity and reliable yield. Katana turns inefficiencies into advantages, creating a win-win space for builders and participants.”
Robust and Secure Technical Infrastructure
Katana is powered by cdk-opgeth, a custom stack based on the widely adopted OP Stack, connected to Agglayer and enhanced with zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) for elevated security. This allows developers to use familiar tools, while users benefit from faster finality and stronger safeguards.
These ZK proofs are generated by Succinct’s SP1, a production-grade zkVM using Polygon’s Plonky3 proving system. The network is run with operational support from Conduit, utilizing its high-performance G2 Sequencer.
Deeper Liquidity in the Katana Ecosystem
Katana brings together liquidity across a targeted group of leading DeFi protocols, offering users:
- Greater capital efficiency
- Reduced slippage
- More competitive rates
Core protocols in the Katana ecosystem include:
- Morpho: For optimized lending and borrowing
- Sushi: For deep spot liquidity and aggregator-powered trading
- Vertex: For capital-efficient perpetuals trading
Hundreds to thousands of applications can be built on top of this secure foundation, benefiting from the robust liquidity environment.
Katana also consolidates liquidity around functionally equivalent assets like stablecoins, BTC, and ETH:
- Agora: Issuer of the native stablecoin AUSD
- Lombard: Issuer of LBTC, a liquid, yield-bearing asset backed 1:1 with BTC
- Ether.Fi: Issuer of weETH, a wrapped version of ETH that accrues Ethereum staking rewards
- BitVault: Provider of institutional-grade BTC-backed currency
To enable trading of blue-chip assets not native to Katana (e.g., XRP, SOL, SUI), Universal will bring them into the network along with their staked, yield-bearing variants. Users will not only be able to trade those assets natively on Katana, but they’ll earn higher yields than on their original chains, while executing loop, arbitrage, and farming strategies.
Higher and Sustainable Yield Performance
Katana’s architecture revolves around five pillars that drive durable, high-performance yield:
- VaultBridge
Assets bridged to Katana (ETH, WBTC, USDT, USDC) begin earning yield immediately, first on Ethereum, then compounded on Katana.
Users win. - Network Fees
Transaction fees and part of app revenue are reinvested into Katana’s ecosystem to deepen liquidity, grow the network, and reward users.
Users win. - AUSD Revenue
AUSD is a native stablecoin backed by institutions like VanEck and State Street. Unlike others, it shares revenue from treasury operations with the Katana ecosystem.
Users win. - Core App Emissions
Each core application allocates its tokens to user incentives, boosting yield and engagement.
Users win. - KAT Emissions
KAT holders will govern how future emissions are distributed across DeFi pools, ensuring alignment between users, protocols, and long-term goals.
Users win.
A Chain That Grows with Use
- More bridged assets mean more yield.
- More AUSD deposits increase yield.
- Higher sequencer activity raises yield.
Katana is sustainable, as it scales with usage and participation. Liquidity remains stable and resilient, thanks to chain-owned capital and protocol revenue being returned to the ecosystem.
This reduces reliance on short-term incentives and acts as a buffer against volatility and liquidity shocks. Core apps aren’t just building for themselves, they’re supporting the entire Katana network.
Users win.
Productive Total Value Locked (TVL)
On Katana, TVL doesn’t sit idle. Assets are actively deployed across lending, trading, and yield strategies to maximize capital efficiency and generate app-level returns.
Rather than inflating metrics with dormant assets, Katana ensures TVL works for users. In turn, applications earn from this activity and reinvest in improving the user experience.
Users win.
KAT: Aligning Ownership, Incentives, and Growth
The Katana Foundation also unveiled KAT, the network’s native token, created to align user interests with ecosystem sustainability.
Based on the vote-escrow (ve) model, users can receive KAT via lootbox giveaways after pre-depositing ETH, WBTC, USDC, or USDT. After a lock-up of up to 9 months, KAT will unlock, allowing users to convert it into veKAT for governance rights over emissions.
KAT does more than govern; it drives a sustainable incentive loop, directing emissions to productive TVL and deepening chain-owned liquidity. Rewards go to long-term contributors, not short-term speculators.
Private Mainnet Now Live
Katana’s private mainnet is officially online, allowing early users and developers to begin exploring the ecosystem and its key applications.
Interested builders can join today at katana.network
Disclaimer: This is a paid post and should not be treated as news/advice.
