Polygon and GSR's DeFi-focused Katana chain launches on mainnet

DeFi-optimized Layer 2 blockchain Katana launched on the public mainnet, Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal announced Monday.

"Katana will bring in a new era for DeFi that will change how users earn yield on their assets, with Agglayer’s Vault Bridge," Nailwal said in his X post on Monday.

Incubated by Polygon Labs and market maker GSR, Katana was built using a custom version of OP Stack, called cdk-opgeth. The network is connected to AggLayer's Vault Bridge, a cross-chain interoperability protocol, which enables connected chains to earn revenue from their bridged assets.

Katana aims to address fragmentation in traditional DeFi by concentrating liquidity across key protocols and channeling all available yield into a self-sustaining engine built for enduring DeFi growth.

The chain launched on a private mainnet in late May, integrating the lending protocol Morpho, the decentralized trading platform Sushi, and the perps exchange Vertex. It also started supporting Agora’s AUSD stablecoin, Lombard’s liquid-staked wrapped LBTC, and EtherFi’s yield-bearing weETH, among other DeFi integrations.

At the soft launch, Katana enabled users to pre-deposit funds to earn the chain's native token, KAT. According to Nailwal, Katana has over $240 million in "productive" deposited assets three weeks after opening the deposits. 

Katana is expected to serve as a deep liquidity hub, allowing chains on the Agglayer to access liquidity, which may generate substantial fees for POL stakers, Nailwal said.

The new chain is also planning to airdrop around 15% (1.5 billion tokens) of its total 10 billion supply to POL stakers.