Chris Fernando 
Katana, a new DeFi-focused layer-2 blockchain, has officially launched its mainnet with over $200 million in pre-deposits. This makes it one of the most capitalized layer-2 network debuts this year, according to a Monday announcement.
Developed by the Katana Foundation, the project, which is a Polygon Agglayer Breakout Program graduate, is designed to support decentralized finance activities. Katana integrates with decentralized exchange Sushi and lending protocol Morpho, providing incentives for liquidity providers.
The platform’s design aims to integrate yields from multiple sources, including VaultBridge strategies for native Ethereum yields within Katana’s ecosystem, Chain-owned Liquidity (CoL) reserves, and AUSD-backed treasury flows, rather than solely relying on new token issuance for participation incentives.
Through its launch partner, Universal, Katana enables direct on-chain trading of non-Ethereum Virtual Machine tokens such as SOL, XRP, and SUI. Universal has also integrated with Coinbase Prime to support institutional-grade custody and minting of supported assets without requiring decentralized exchange-based pre-seeded liquidity.
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, stated, “Katana’s primary goal is to address the liquidity demands of the Agglayer ecosystem while meeting users’ needs for deeper liquidity and higher yields.”
He added, “Assets aren’t just idle — they are actively deployed, driving real usage, sequencer fees and app-level fees, all of which flow back into sustaining deeper liquidity.”
Katana has allocated approximately 15% of its KAT token supply for an upcoming airdrop to Polygon (POL: $0.1833) token stakers, including those holding liquid staking derivatives.
The platform introduces “productive total value locked” (TVL) as a metric to measure DeFi capital efficiency. Unlike traditional TVL that tracks all deposited assets, productive TVL only accounts for capital actively deployed into yield-generating strategies or core DeFi protocols. Ahead of its mainnet launch, Katana accumulated over $200 million in productive TVL.
Katana states its yield mechanisms convert passive capital into a “self-circulating economic engine.” VaultBridge is designed to redirect bridged assets like Ether, USDC, USDt, and wBTC into off-chain yield-bearing positions, primarily on Ethereum. These returns are then channeled back into Katana’s on-chain DeFi pools. Chain-owned liquidity aims to ensure sequencer fees are continuously reinvested into liquidity reserves.
Boiron further explained the benefits of “productive TVL,” saying it “provides a clearer picture of what’s really happening behind the scenes.”
He concluded, “It reflects actual usage, economic efficiency and long-term sustainability.”
The launch follows recent DeFi infrastructure developments, including Agora’s AUSD, a yield-bearing stablecoin that channels returns from US Treasury and repo markets into Katana’s protocols. These flows, combined with Katana’s smart yield routing, form the basis of its productive TVL model.
