Katana, a DeFi-focused layer-2 network built on Ethereum, went live on mainnet on 30 June after attracting more than $200 million in user deposits during a three-week pre-launch period. Tweets from project contributors later put total assets committed at about $240 million. The chain was incubated by Polygon Labs and crypto market-maker GSR and is governed by the non-profit Katana Foundation. It is designed to tackle fragmented liquidity and volatile yields by routing bridged assets through an automated system called VaultBridge, which allocates funds to low-risk lending pools on Ethereum and returns the earnings to Katana users and developers. Katana opens with core integrations including the Morpho lending protocol and a modified version of the Sushi decentralised exchange. To spur early activity, the project has launched a 1 billion-token KAT incentive programme. The KAT token is initially non-transferable; the developers say an exchange listing is targeted for 20 February 2026, and holders will be able to lock tokens for staking rewards via a derivative token, vKAT. The launch underscores a broader move toward specialised layer-2 chains that share Ethereum security while tailoring infrastructure to specific sectors. Katana’s backers argue that concentrating liquidity and yield tools on a single network will make the platform attractive to both retail traders and institutions seeking capital-efficient on-chain exposure.