Katana, a leading yield generation protocol and Grand Prize Winner at the Solana Ignition Hackathon, has announced a $5 million seed round led by Framework Ventures. The round also saw participation from several other top funds and angels, including Founders Fund, Electric Capital, Proto Fund, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, Solana Ventures, Jason Choi, Darren and Daryl Lau, Chris McCann, Joey Santoro, and many more.
The Katana protocol offers a suite of automated yield strategies across the risk spectrum, enabling users to passively earn additional yield on their crypto assets. Its goal is to become the nucleus for yield generation in DeFi by identifying, automating, and packaging sophisticated strategies into accessible yield products for all.
Importantly, Katana sources yield not from finite liquidity mining programs but a more sustainable and scalable source: expressing views on price action. The protocol currently offers two flagship strategies — automated covered calls and cash-secured puts — on assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, and many more. Katana runs optimized versions of each strategy which roll over automatically, require no active management from users, and source their own liquidity through partnerships with the largest options market makers in crypto.
Founder Ayush Menon and founding engineer Eric Nie started the protocol in October 2021, building the initial protocol in just six days for the Solana Ignition Hackathon. After winning the Grand Prize, the two took the project full time and launched the protocol on Solana’s mainnet in December 2021, quickly growing to one of the largest yield protocols on Solana with over $40M in total value locked (TVL).
“Generating sustainable yield on crypto assets is one of the burgeoning sectors in the rapidly growing DeFi ecosystem,” said Ayush Menon, Founder and CEO of Katana.“In developing Katana, our goal is to simplify yield generation while eventually allowing anyone to access, contribute to, and build upon the best yield products in DeFi.”
Completed in November 2021, the raised funds will be used to rapidly scale the Katana core team, further develop its robust product suite, and expand its presence in the broader DeFi ecosystem.
“With yield generation remaining largely fragmented, Katana is effectively democratizing access to entirely new yield products and strategies,” said Vance Spencer, co-founder of Framework Ventures. “As one of the first projects to generate truly sustainable yield, Katana will play a significant role in ushering in a new wave of participants in the DeFi ecosystem.”
To learn more about Katana and its upcoming developments, visit: https://katana.so/
About Katana
Katana is a yield generation protocol and Solana Ignition Hackathon Grand Prize Winner. Its mission is to simplify access to complicated yield strategies, making it easier than ever for users to earn the best risk-adjusted yields on their crypto assets. For more information, visit https://katana.so/
About Framework Ventures
Framework is a team of technologists, researchers and investors who buy assets of, who build for, and who participate in open crypto networks. At its core, Framework is a technology company, building products and services to support the open blockchain networks that they invest in. Through its registered investment adviser, Framework Ventures Management LLC (“Framework Ventures”), the firm has backed dozens of notable companies in the decentralized finance and Web3 spaces. To learn more visit: framework.ventures.
Important Disclosures
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