A brand-new contender has leapt onto the Ethereum scaling battlefield. Katana, a DeFi-centric layer-2 network incubated in Polygon’s Agglayer Breakout Program, switched on its mainnet this week, backed by more than $200 million in what it calls “productive TVL”—capital already deployed into yield strategies rather than sitting idle.

Real-Yield Design

Instead of showering farmers with fresh emissions, Katana routes bridged assets such as ETH, USDC, USDT and wBTC into off-chain yield positions via its VaultBridge. Profits loop back on-chain, while Chain-Owned Liquidity reserves recycle sequencer fees into liquidity pools. An AUSD-linked treasury adds another revenue stream.

Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron says the aim is “deeper liquidity and higher yields” across the broader Agglayer ecosystem.

Crosschain Trading and Airdrop Hook

Launch partner Universal lets traders swap non-EVM favourites—SOL, XRP and SUI—directly on Katana, with Coinbase Prime providing institutional custody and minting so pools don’t need to be pre-seeded.

Early DeFi staples are already live: Sushi for swaps, Morpho for lending and leveraged yield. To cement loyalty, 15% of the upcoming KAT token supply is earmarked for an airdrop to Polygon (POL) stakers, including liquid-staking derivatives holders.

Katana’s founders argue that measuring only capital actively at work offers a clearer picture of network health than headline TVL alone. With $200 million of “productive” deposits secured before day one, the project now has to prove those feedback loops can keep yields—and users—flowing.