Recently, while browsing Twitter, I saw a foreign DeFi blogger talking about Katana, claiming that it is a project that offers up to 48% annual interest rate on USDT/USDC before its TGE, with the condition that funds must be locked until before 2026. Although it sounds a bit crazy, I am indeed intrigued and casually looked through the content that Lombard had posted before, and found that they have a close relationship with Katana!

In simple terms, this is not just another cross-chain integration of BTC. Lombard has directly become the only BTC issuer on Katana, with two new assets added:

※ BTCK: Decentralized BTC mapping
※ LBTC: BTC LST with built-in interest income

Compared to those centralized WBTC and BTCB, these two new tokens are completely embedded in the foundation of Katana. In the future, when scheduling and settling on-chain, the default will be to use them instead of some alternative. This is also why Katana directly signed Lombard as the sole partner; they hope that BTC is not an external addition, but rather a foundational layer that grows together with the ecosystem!

Interestingly, Katana is not a standalone chain; it is actually the DeFi and liquidity hub of the larger Agglayer network. Agglayer itself connects to many dedicated L2s, such as IoTeX (DePIN), Wirex (payments), Sentient (AI), Moonveil (gaming), and similar projects, with a bunch of use cases currently in incubation for the future.

So, from this perspective, Lombard has not only launched a new chain but has also secured a strategic position: to be the official entry point for BTC liquidity in the entire Agglayer/ @0xPolygon ecosystem!

For Lombard, this is actually very smart: they don't have to connect to dozens of L2s themselves, but instead focus on a central hub that distributes BTC to all downstream. In the future, as Katana's liquidity expands, the usage of LBTC and BTCK will also rise!

If you are like me and are considering positioning your assets early (or trying to catch the future Katana airdrop), this could be a relatively rare opportunity. The lock-up period is long, but sometimes, high interest rates and early dividends are worth the patience!

#KaitoYap @KaitoAI @JacobPPhillips @Lombard_Finance #Yap @katana