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Katana Unsheathes to Reshape DeFi, Incubated by GSR and Polygon Labs

Last updated:

May 30, 2025

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Katana Unsheathes to Reshape DeFi, Incubated by GSR and Polygon Labs

Katana, built by GSR and Polygon Labs, launches its private mainnet to transform DeFi with higher yields and deep liquidity.

The Katana Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on enhancing the decentralized finance (DeFi) experience for users, has officially launched the private mainnet of Katana, a blockchain platform designed to maximize yield and liquidity. The chain is powered by KAT and is intended to centralize liquidity across lending, spot, and perpetual decentralized exchanges (DEXs), including Morpho, Sushi, and Vertex.

The platform, built by GSR and Polygon Labs, is supported from launch by strategic collaborators including Conduit (a leading rollup platform), Chainlink (a widely used oracle network), and Blockworks (a crypto-focused media and data outlet).

Pre-deposits are now live, allowing users to earn KAT by committing early. The public mainnet launch is slated for June.

A Unified DeFi Experience

Unlike traditional DeFi networks that often suffer from fragmented liquidity and scattered yield opportunities, Katana integrates multiple sources of yield into a unified ecosystem. By concentrating liquidity within select protocols and leveraging up to five yield sources, Katana offers a streamlined experience for individual traders, whales, and institutions alike.

Katana is purpose-built for users seeking greater returns, providing them with access to advanced DeFi mechanisms that reduce friction. By minimizing slippage and providing more consistent lending and borrowing rates, the platform seeks to address key inefficiencies that persist in the broader DeFi space.

Industry Support and Infrastructure

GSR contributes by managing liquidity and facilitating cross-chain activity, while Polygon Labs has played an active role in Katana’s development from the outset.

“Katana reflects our commitment to fostering robust DeFi systems. Beyond capital support, we’re helping shape a foundation that enables sustainable yield generation and healthy liquidity,” said Jakob Palmstierna, President of GSR.

Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron added, “Katana’s ecosystem puts users first by prioritizing sustainable returns and accessible infrastructure. It’s a blueprint for growth in DeFi.”

Katana is built on a custom OP Stack variant – cdk-opgeth – secured via Agglayer and powered by zero-knowledge proofs provided by Succinct’s SP1 prover and Polygon’s Plonky3 system. The chain is operated in partnership with Conduit and uses its high-speed G2 Sequencer.

Liquidity and Asset Integration

At its core, Katana consolidates liquidity into a few key protocols:

Morpho: for lending and borrowing
Sushi: for spot DEX liquidity
Vertex: for perpetual contracts and margin trading

In addition, Katana integrates services from:

Agora: to issue AUSD, a native stablecoin
Lombard: for liquid-staked LBTC
Ether.Fi: for weETH, a wrapped ETH that earns additional staking rewards
BitVault: for BTC-backed institutional liquidity

Through partnerships like Universal, the platform will also support non-native assets (e.g., XRP, SOL, SUI) and their liquid-staked variants, allowing users to trade these tokens without leaving the chain.

Yield Strategies and Ecosystem Design

Katana’s architecture is centered on five yield pillars:

VaultBridge: Assets bridged into Katana begin earning Ethereum-based yield, compounding further on-chain.
Network Fees: A portion of network and app revenue is funneled back into user incentives.
AUSD Yield Sharing: AUSD revenue, backed by institutions like VanEck and State Street, is distributed within the Katana network.
App Emissions: Token incentives from core apps increase liquidity and user returns.
KAT Emissions: Token holders influence emission distribution through a governance model based on veKAT (vote-escrowed KAT).

Katana reinvests protocol revenue and sequencer fees into its ecosystem to maintain deep liquidity, minimize reliance on short-term incentives, and stabilize returns.

Maximizing Capital Efficiency

Unlike platforms that rely on idle value to inflate metrics, Katana actively deploys capital through lending, trading, and yield farming – either natively or via third-party protocols. This design ensures total value locked (TVL) is productive, contributing to both user gains and application development.

Introducing KAT: Native Governance and Alignment

The Foundation also unveiled KAT, Katana’s native token. KAT will align platform incentives and allow users to vote on emission allocations. Early adopters can earn KAT through a lootbox system by pre-depositing assets such as ETH, WBTC, USDC, or USDT. After a lockup period (up to nine months), users can convert KAT into veKAT to gain governance power.

This governance mechanism ensures emissions reward meaningful engagement and liquidity provision instead of short-term speculation.