We report on continuous-wave and pulsed laser characteristics of Yb:Y2O3 transparent ceramic at cryogenic temperatures. A VBG stabilized pump diode emitting at 976 nm which matches with the zero-phonon line of the gain media was employed. At 100 K, a maximum continuous-wave output power of 12 W, around three times than that of 300 K and a slope efficiency of 54.4%, 2.4 times than that of 300 K was achieved using an output coupler transmission of 50% with respect to incident power. In passive Q-switched regime, using a Cr:YAG saturable absorber with an initial transmission of 85%, a maximum energy of 0.46 mJ per pulse was obtained with a peak power of 1.64 kW at a repetition rate of 19.6 kHz.