the network is katana. the token is KAT
the network is katana. the token is KAT
tl;dr:
KAT powers an ecosystem designed for users
community first: no investors, no pre-sales, no preferential insider unlocks
10b KAT supply has been minted
70m KAT is earmarked for users that pre-deposit, starting today
1.5b KAT is allocated to the community
1b KAT is allocated for core apps only to incentivize users, once mainnet is live
public mainnet is in june
KAT will be transferable no later than february 20, 2026, maybe sooner
overview
KAT aligns katana users and the chain’s core apps. KAT holders initially earn fees from apps’ economic activity on katana by directing how incentives flow across the chain to defi pools. this creates a win-win for all active participants. In the long run, KAT holders could secure katana as a decentralized network and earn fees from the chain for their services.
this post will cover what KAT is and how it works, all allocations and vesting schedules, and how users can receive KAT during the no-transfer period.
what KAT is and isn’t
The high level details regarding KAT:
total initial supply: 10 billion KAT
transferability: non-transferable for up to 9 months post-mint. the katana foundation may end this non-transferability period sooner. the decision would have no effect on the vesting schedules outlined below. the no-transfer period will conclude no later than february 20, 2026
no presale: there are no vc investors and there are no preferential unlocks ahead of users
KAT is not the chain’s gas token (it’s eth), and it has no role in governing chain upgrades. it receives none of the chain’s fees. and it does not govern vaultbridge. for information on katana’s governance, see katana: governance.
KAT is designed to function as a lever for directing capital: upon transferability, users that lock KAT receive a voting version of KAT—vKAT—in return. vKAT underpins key aspects of the chain’s economy, providing rewards to those users that participate. these fee-based rewards function as an incentive for KAT holders to engage in cooperative, positive-sum behavior.
at the chain level, katana was inspired by the ve(3,3) model, which combines the vote-escrowed token model with a "3,3" cooperative strategy meant to solve certain tokenomics problems around inflation.
most of the existing implementations of ve(3,3) are used to govern the individual economy of a single dex. but on katana, the modified implementation has been generalized to share in value from an entire defi ecosystem, starting with the dex.
as katana grows to hundreds of billions in productive TVL with robust network effects, katana can be decentralized, allowing for KAT holders to stake their KAT and drive value –sequencer fees, bridge yield, and stablecoin yield—from the chain to themselves due to their services.
how does it work?
once the no-transfer period concludes, KAT holders will be able to lock their tokens and receive a 1:1 exchange of vKAT.
vKAT holders participate in weekly voting cycles, known as epochs. each epoch serves as a discrete time period where holders allocate KAT to support activity across the chain’s core apps. initially, vKAT will direct emissions to supported liquidity pools on sushi.
votes are weighted by the total vKAT supply, and voters earn a portion of the fees generated by the pools they support.
emissions voted by vKAT holders indirectly enhance the entire network by:
increasing the rewards for liquidity providers, which attracts more liquidity to reduce slippage and improve execution for users
driving transaction volume on core apps, which drives the sequencer revenue that contributes to chain-owned liquidity and further boosted yield for users
deeper chain-owned liquidity reduces the need to rent liquidity in the long term
the result is that, on katana, the emissions from voting vKAT are not a necessity for maintaining incentives in the long-term. this unlocks the possibility of more sustainable tokenomics models, including replacing the ongoing emissions of KAT with surplus sequencer fees.
katana’s modified ve(3,3) model is harder to game because it aligns incentives from the top down. the network grows with its core apps, chain-owned liquidity deepens as a result of actual usage, and vKAT serves not as a subsidy mechanism, but to amplify what’s already working.
token distribution & supply
the first KAT tokens to unlock will be those provided as rewards to users during this early stage of growth. there has been no sale of tokens to venture capital investors; the katana foundation is exploring options for a public sale of KAT so that users—not vcs—can participate first.
all transfers of KAT by the katana foundation will be tracked [here].
users liquidity mining: 20%
1b KAT (10% of total supply) is allocated to core applications only to be distributed to their users.
these tokens are distributed at the discretion of each core app. they are immediately available to core apps for user incentives and will be locked for users until KAT becomes transferable:
sushi: 400m KAT (4.0%)
morpho: 250m KAT (2.5%)
vertex: 150m KAT (1.5%)
future memecoin launchpad & yield tokenization protocol: up to 200m KAT (2.0%)
what does this mean for katana users? about 500m KAT will be distributed to them in the first six months following public mainnet and the rest over a longer period afterwards.
1b KAT (10% of total supply) is allocated to retail and institutional users via krates and TVL commitments:
pre-deposit krates: 70m KAT (0.7%)
TVL commitments: 930m KAT (9.3%)
these tokens will be the first to unlock when KAT becomes transferable, ahead of any KAT distributed to core contributors.
any of the KAT earmarked for TVL that is not distributed will return to the ecosystem and community treasury.
community airdrops: 15%
1.5b KAT is allocated to community members that stake their POL. this is a recognition of the polygon community’s contributions in incubating katana through the agglayer breakout program – and further strengthens the agglayer ecosystem, as well as katana’s. distribution follows the following breakdown:
traditional staked POL (11%)
700m KAT (7%) unlocks when KAT becomes transferable, based on the amount of POL staked and the duration, beginning today through the date KAT first becomes transferable.
400m KAT (4%) unlocks in four equal tranches on the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of KAT first becoming transferable
Includes staking via liquid staking protocols
katana native liquid staked POL (4%)
new liquid staked POL to be created on katana and benefit from katana yields
unlocks in four equal tranches on the first, second, third, and fourth anniversaries of KAT first becoming transferable
core contributors: 15.65%
1.565b KAT is allocated to core contributors unlocks in four equal tranches on the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of KAT first becoming transferable
ecosystem and community treasury: 49.35%
4.935b KAT is allocated to the ecosystem and community treasury, operated by the katana foundation:
300m KAT (3%) unlocks when KAT becomes transferable for liquidity provisioning
200m KAT (2%) unlocks in reserve when KAT becomes transferable if pre-listing ecosystem projects receive grants
4.435b KAT (44.35%) unlocks in four equal tranches on the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of KAT first becoming transferable
KAT risk and mitigations
KAT was minted on katana and vKAT’s utility exists on katana. risks associated with katana, including any potential interruptions, downtime and withdrawal delays, are described in katana’s technical documentation.
