Katana, powered by its native token KAT, emerges as an advanced solution to maximize liquidity and enhance yields across major DeFi protocols such as Morpho, Sushi, and Vertex. This new blockchain is designed to provide a more efficient, profitable, and cohesive experience for retail users, large investors, and institutional entities. Backed by strategic partners including Conduit, Chainlink, and Blockworks, Katana ushers in a new era in the use of digital assets.
May 30, 2025 — The Katana Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating high-quality DeFi experiences for all users, today announced the private mainnet launch of Katana, a blockchain specifically designed to optimize digital asset performance through higher yields and consolidated liquidity. In contrast to today’s fragmented and dispersed DeFi ecosystem, Katana unifies liquidity across a select group of core protocols, capturing yield from multiple sources to sustain a long-term, sustainable DeFi engine.
Early pre-deposits are now enabled, allowing participants to earn KAT for being early adopters. The public launch is scheduled for June.
Strategic Backing and Key Partners
Katana was born from the collaboration between GSR and Polygon Labs and enters the market backed by key industry players such as:
- Conduit, which provides rollup infrastructure and operates over $4 billion in total value locked (TVL);
- Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle provider, ensuring reliable data delivery for the ecosystem’s critical functions;
- Blockworks, a crypto-focused media and analytics company, which will contribute to the development of ecosystem content and data.
With these allies, Katana aims to offer users higher yields and a unified, streamlined, and accessible DeFi experience.
Architecture Designed for Everyone
Katana is built to offer DeFi users an environment where assets can be more productive and generate higher returns. Designed to attract both experienced users and financial institutions, the platform turns every asset into a value generator within a coordinated ecosystem that optimizes yield flows.
Currently, DeFi faces several obstacles: liquidity remains fragmented, and value is lost across multiple layers of intermediation. Katana addresses these limitations by concentrating liquidity and reducing friction, resulting in lower fees, stable lending rates, and low slippage.
“At GSR, we are thrilled to work closely with Katana,” said Jakob Palmstierna, Chairman of GSR. “This project reflects our growing commitment to incubating sustainable DeFi ecosystems. It’s not just about providing capital, but also bringing our market expertise to build infrastructures that generate real yield and effective liquidity. Katana represents that vision, an architecture designed for the long term.”
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, added: “The future of DeFi lies in ecosystems that ensure sustainable liquidity and real yields. Katana’s user-centric approach turns current inefficiencies into advantages, creating a win-win environment for everyone.”
Advanced Infrastructure with ZK Security
Katana is built on cdk-opgeth, a customized development stack based on the OP Stack and connected to Agglayer, allowing the use of zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs for enhanced security. This infrastructure lets developers work with familiar tools and delivers fast, secure finality to users.
ZK proofs are powered by Succinct’s SP1 prover, a zkVM in production built on Polygon’s Plonky3 proof system. Network operations are supported by Conduit’s high-performance G2 Sequencer.
Consolidated Liquidity DeFi Ecosystem
Katana centralizes liquidity in an ecosystem composed of leaders in each DeFi segment:
- Morpho for efficient lending and borrowing.
- Sushi as a high-liquidity spot DEX with aggregator functions.
- Vertex for perpetual derivatives trading with high capital efficiency.
The modular design of Katana also allows the integration of new applications that can benefit from this stable and liquid infrastructure, raising the overall quality of the ecosystem.
Katana’s strategy also includes pooling liquidity in similar asset categories such as stablecoins, BTC, and ETH. Solutions integrating these assets include:
- Agora with its AUSD stablecoin.
- Lombard, provider of LBTC, a yield-bearing liquid version of BTC.
- Fi, offering weETH, a wrapped ETH with staking rewards.
- BitVault, issuing institutionally-backed money pegged to BTC.
Through Universal, high-cap tokens like XRP, SOL, and SUI will also be added, enabling users to interact with them without leaving Katana. By leveraging their liquid versions, users can access higher yields and deploy advanced strategies like looping, arbitrage, and farming.
Superior Yields: Five Core Pillars
Katana is structured around five pillars that optimize ecosystem performance:
- VaultBridge:
Enables bridged assets like WBTC, ETH, USDC, and USDT to earn yield on Ethereum and automatically compound it on Katana, turning each deposit into an instant value generator. - Recycled Network Fees:
Unlike other chains that retain revenue, Katana reinvests fees back into its own ecosystem. - AUSD Revenue:
AUSD, backed by institutions like VanEck and State Street, distributes generated income rather than routing it to the issuer. Holding AUSD on Katana increases user yields. - Core App Emissions:
Key ecosystem applications allocate their tokens to incentive programs, boosting user loyalty and maximizing returns throughout Katana. - KAT Emissions:
The KAT token will be governed via a ve (vote-escrow) model. Users will decide how future emissions are distributed across DeFi pools.
Productive TVL
Katana implements chain-owned liquidity by using sequencer revenue and protocol fees to maintain a resilient liquidity base. This reduces reliance on short-term incentives and ensures stability during market volatility.
Instead of inflating metrics with idle TVL, Katana maximizes capital efficiency by deploying those assets in lending, trading, and yield-generating strategies. Users benefit directly, and applications receive the revenue needed to continue innovating.
KAT: Governance, Incentives, and Sustainable Growth
The KAT token is the heart of the Katana ecosystem. Through a vote-escrow (veKAT) governance system, users can lock their tokens to gain voting power and decide how emissions are allocated across the ecosystem’s protocols.
Additionally, users who make early deposits in ETH, USDC, USDT, or WBTC can receive KAT through a “lootbox”-style promotion. After a lock-up period of up to 9 months (which may be released earlier by the Katana Foundation), participants can convert KAT to veKAT and take part in active governance.
KAT drives the ecosystem’s growth loop, directing rewards to productive capital and reinforcing long-term liquidity.
Private Mainnet Live
Katana’s private mainnet is now live, allowing developers and early users to interact with core applications. Those interested in participating from the start can do so via the official website: katana.network.
About Katana
Katana is a next-generation DeFi ecosystem powered by the Katana Foundation, with backing from Polygon Labs, GSR, and other contributors. Built on Polygon’s open-source ZK technology, Katana features innovative mechanisms such as chain-owned liquidity, VaultBridge, and ecosystem-aligned apps, ensuring that the value generated stays within the network.
About the Katana Foundation
The Katana Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to delivering a superior DeFi experience for all users, through greater liquidity, better yields, and accessible design.
