The KAT token just went live along with Katana Perps, an enshrined native perps DEX (acquired from IDEX). But we recorded this episode of The Edge Podcast just before it all happened because we wanted the full story behind Katana’s vision.
We’ve seen countless L2s and L1s launch as idealistic “DeFi hubs” but the combination of vbTokens, ve(3,3) mechanics at the network level, plus a native perps DEX has us believing Katana could deliver a lasting foundation to retain real DeFi users like us.
The newly announced CEO of Katana, Matthew Fisher explains Katana with a simple premise: yield should go to active DeFi participants, not idle holders. Every other design decision flows from that. The Katana vaultbridge locks bridged assets into overcollateralized Morpho vaults on Ethereum Mainnet, redirecting L1 yield back to users who are actually participating n DeFi onchain on Katana. While Circle and Tether keep the yield generated from your stablecoins, Katana gives it all back to users via vbUSDC and vbUSDT.
But the yield mechanism is just the foundation. What Katana is really building is a vertically integrated DeFi super app with five distinct revenue streams — lending, AMM, perps, vaults, and sequencer fees — all feeding one flywheel instead of fragmenting liquidity across competing protocols.
The most interesting point Matthew shared is their three-phase liquidity roadmap. Phase one was attracting capital bootstrapping TVL via a points program. Phase two is crypto-native earn programs with OKX and Binance, both having integrated Katana's Morpho vaults, giving tens of millions of CEX users access to onchain yield under the hood. Phase three is where it gets really interesting: onboarding major fintechs like Revolut to feed liquidity onchain in exchange for yield.
According to Matthew, most people aren’t aware some of the biggest fintechs in the world such as Revolut, Mercado, and Lemon Cash, are already on Polygon. Polygon onboarded them for payments. So Katana, being built on Polygon's Agglayer, is positioned to upsell them earn programs, which could act as a distribution pipeline few other DeFi-focused networks can replicate from scratch.
And then there's Katana Perps. Katana acquired the team behind IDEX, once the #1 app in the early days of Ethereum, to bring sophisticated traders onchain. Perps are known to be the highest revenue-generating application on any chain. Hyperliquid proved the model. Katana is bringing perps into their super app L2 ecosystem.
Listen to the latest Edge Podcast to hear the full vision direct from Matthew Fisher and why he believes Katana is due for a “repricing” with all that’s shipping.
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🔗 Guest Links 🔗
► Katana website: katana.network
► Katana on X: x.com/katana
► Katana Perps website: perps.katana.network
► Katana Perps on X: x.com/katanaperps
► Matthew on X: x.com/mfisher10x
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DISCLAIMER: Nothing written in The Edge Newsletter or said on The Edge Podcast is a recommendation to buy or sell tokens or securities. This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing shared here is financial advice. Any views expressed in our content are solely the opinion of that writer, host, or guest. Always do your own research. DeFi Dad, Nomatic, and guests may have positions in the assets or other matters discussed in this content. DeFi Dad earned ~$500 of KAT in the airdrop and voluntarily staked it as avKAT in a demo edited into the pod. Katana has been a sponsor of The Edge Podcast but we do not accept paid guest slots. We believe Katana has a compelling story given its novel use of vbTokens and ve(3,3) mechanics at the network level.
