The Katana Foundation, an non -profit organization focused on innovation Decentralized Finance (Defi), announced the public mainnet launch of his Katana Blockchain on Monday, with the support of GSR and Polygon Labs.
Katana has already attracted more than $ 200 million to pre-defectors since the public reveals less than a month ago, according to Defillama. The blockchain is designed to tackle some of the most persistent problems of Defi: low liquidity, unreliable yields and capital constantly flow out of the system.
Katana Prelaunch TVL
To tackle this, the team will use tools, such as Vaultbridge, which earns yields with Ethereum-based assets and liquidity of chains (Col), so that Katana can retain its transaction costs for long-term financing for the network. Katana also offers token rewards to users who offer liquidity on apps such as Morpho and Sushi.
“Users should not understand or even have to think about block chains,” Marc Boiron, a co-contributor of Katana, told The Defiant. “The experience should be so seamless that they simply know that they have digital assets, assets that can yield, be traded or used, without worrying about portfolios, networks, gas costs or one of the underlying complexity.”
Katana’s native token, cat, can also be earned by liquidity mining. Although token is currently not transferable, an exchange list is expected on February 20, 2026, according to a release viewed by the Defiant. Users can also lock cat to receive VKAT, which yields rewards.
In the meantime, when users bridge assets such as USDC, ETH, WBTC or USDT to Katana, those deposits are automatically allocated to deliver generating strategies on Ethereum. The proceeds will then be reduced to the Katana network and distributed among users and developers, according to the website of the project.
The launch is part of a larger trend in Defi to leave short-term, non-durable rewards and to simpler systems that generate steady, long-term returns. Boiron said the blockchain was also designed to meet the needs of institutional players, who are sometimes overlooked.
“Institutions want to participate directly in crypto on-chain, but the current state of fragmented liquidity between chains and platforms makes it almost impossible for them to work on the scale they need,” Bohiron said the Defiant. “Without deep, united liquidity, major transactions are confronted with slippery, inefficiency and excessive risk.”
Boiron explained that Katana makes it easier to move large amounts of money by placing more liquidity in less, easier to use places. “This is not only essential to make institutional involvement possible, but also for unlocking the next growth phase in Defi, where global capital markets can seamlessly communicate with infrastructure in chains,” he added.
Katana is launched with support for Core Defi apps, together with integrations from asset providers, including Agora, Jito, Ether.fi and Universal. Future development will focus on scaling liquidity, onboarding institutional capital and building infrastructure that prioritizing capital efficiency.
