What Citrea does

Citrea is a Cayman Islands–domiciled foundation (with operating entity Citrea Limited in the British Virgin Islands) building the first zero-knowledge rollup on Bitcoin — a Type 2 zkEVM built with RISC Zero proofs and optimistically verified on Bitcoin via the BitVM2-based Clementine Bridge. The platform enables Bitcoin-secured applications (termed ₿apps) including BTC-collateral lending, structured products, perpetuals, prediction markets, and a USD liquidity layer. Its three pillars are: (1) the Citrea zkEVM and ₿apps application layer, (2) cBTC, a trust-minimized Bitcoin representation created via the Clementine Bridge, and (3) ctUSD, a 1:1 cash and short-term US Treasury-backed stablecoin issued through MoonPay and designed to align with the forthcoming GENIUS Act guidelines.

The protocol is non-custodial and open-source: the Foundation does not take a spread on bridged assets, and transaction fees accrue to network operators, bridge operators, and the protocol rather than to a centralized entity. CTR functions as a coordination asset (10B total supply, 1.2B circulating) with xCTR stakers directing emissions and governance treasury allocations via a gauge system. The company is venture-backed by Founders Fund, Galaxy Ventures, Delphi, and Maven 11, with angel investors including Erik Voorhees, Balaji Srinivasan, Eric Wall, and Jameson Lopp, and counts Galaxy Digital's $50M+ post-mainnet liquidity commitment alongside institutional partner Anchorage Digital Bank as anchor ecosystem infrastructure.

Citrea's go-to-market is community- and developer-led (Citrea Origins incubation program, blog, Discord, Twitter/X, developer documentation) combined with self-serve distribution via the app.citrea.xyz dashboard and Bridge Hub, plus token distribution through 10+ centralized and two decentralized exchanges. Primary customers span three segments: institutional finance and capital markets seeking to deploy idle BTC productively, Bitcoin holders and DeFi users wanting Bitcoin-native yield and trading without leaving Bitcoin security, and EVM developers building on the Bitcoin application layer. Mainnet launched January 29, 2026 and CTR token trading went live May 2026, with subsequent South Korean exchange listings (UPbit, Bithumb) in June 2026.

Name

Citrea

Legal name

Citrea Foundation

Website

https://citrea.xyz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Citrea is a Cayman Islands–domiciled foundation building the first zero-knowledge rollup on Bitcoin, offering a Type 2 RISC Zero zkEVM, a BitVM2-based Clementine Bridge issuing cBTC, and the ctUSD stablecoin issued by MoonPay. It serves institutional finance, Bitcoin holders, and EVM developers building Bitcoin-secured applications (₿apps).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Bitcoin Layer 2 Blockchain Protocol

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Spot Crypto Exchanges (Order-Book & Matching Engine) (FSADAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

On-Chain Payments & Stablecoin Infrastructure (Issuance, Rails, Treasury) (FSAGAMAD), Stablecoin Protocols (Decentralized) (FSADAMAD)

Keywords

• Bitcoin ZK rollup
• Bitcoin layer 2 protocol
• BTC capital markets
• Cross-chain bridge infrastructure
• EVM compatible blockchain

Headquarters

HQ city

George Town

HQ country

Cayman Islands

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Bridge and Protocol Transaction Fees: Users pay transaction fees to interact with the Citrea protocol and the underlying blockchain networks. Clementine Bridge transactions may exceed USD $1,000,000 in value, providing potential for significant fee revenue at scale. Citrea Foundation does not custody or take a spread on bridged assets, so fees accrue to network operators, bridge operators, and the protocol.
2. Token Coordination Asset (CTR) Emissions: CTR functions as a coordination asset for the Bitcoin economy. 10,000,000,000 total supply with 1,200,000,000 circulating (12%), of which 14,541,441 are staked. xCTR holders direct emissions from the Governance Treasury, creating an ecosystem-internal capital allocation mechanism rather than direct fee revenue for the Foundation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Citrea operates the first ZK rollup on Bitcoin, providing a fully programmable Layer 2 platform secured by Bitcoin through RISC Zero zero-knowledge proofs and a BitVM-based Clementine bridge. The platform enables a new category of Bitcoin-secured applications (Bapps) for BTC-collateralized lending, trading, structured products, and USD settlement via the ctUSD stablecoin, with the CTR token coordinating governance and emissions across the ecosystem.

Product overview

Citrea is a single platform-plus-modules architecture: the core product is the Citrea ZK-rollup — the first programmable Bitcoin platform secured by Bitcoin via zero-knowledge proofs and a Type 2 zkEVM built with RISC Zero. On top of this core platform sit three named pillars: Citrea & ₿apps (the application layer for non-custodial Bitcoin-secured apps), the Clementine Bridge (a BitVM-based trust-minimized bridge issuing cBTC), and ctUSD (a 1:1 USD stablecoin issued via MoonPay and backed by cash and short-term US Treasuries). The Bridge Hub and Citrea User Dashboard expose these capabilities to users; CTR (with its staked form xCTR) powers coordination, governance, and emissions; Citrea Staking, Citrea Scan, and Citrea Origins round out the operating layer supporting ecosystem builders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ctUSD: Native stablecoin for Bitcoin; 1:1 fiat-backed stablecoin fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and cash, designed to align with the forthcoming GENIUS Act guidelines. Issued by MoonPay.
• Clementine Bridge
• CTR

Products and services

• Citrea Bitcoin ZK-Rollup The first fully programmable platform secured by Bitcoin via zero-knowledge proofs. A Type 2 zkEVM built with RISC Zero that inherits Bitcoin's validity, liveness, re-org resistance, and censorship resistance, enabling a new category of Bitcoin-secured applications called Bapps.
• Clementine Bridge (cBTC) BitVM-based, optimistically verified bridge providing trust-minimized two-way pegging between BTC on Bitcoin and cBTC on Citrea. Peg-in and peg-out are executed via BitVM2 verification with fraud proofs, challenge windows, and verification games; minimum transaction size is 10 BTC. cBTC is the first trust-minimized Bitcoin representation on a fully programmable platform.
• ctUSD Stablecoin Native USD stablecoin for the Bitcoin economy and foundational liquidity layer for Citrea applications. Fully backed 1:1 by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and cash, designed to align with the forthcoming GENIUS Act guidelines, and issued by MoonPay with banking rails for fiat on- and off-ramps.
• CTR Token Coordination asset of the Citrea Network with total supply of 10,000,000,000 CTR and 1,200,000,000 (12%) circulating. Staked to receive xCTR, which grants voting power over the gauge system, governance treasury, emissions, and protocol proposals including sequencer/operator elections.
• Citrea Staking Native staking interface allowing users to stake CTR to receive xCTR or unstake back to CTR, with the current rate (e.g., 1 xCTR = 1.1382 CTR) and total staked displayed on-chain.
• Bridge Hub Bridging interface at citrea.xyz/bridge connecting Ethereum, Base, and Bitcoin, allowing users to send, receive, and refuel gas into the Citrea ecosystem (e.g., USDC to ctUSD).
• Citrea Scan Open-source block explorer for the Citrea chain providing transparent access to transactions, blocks, and on-chain data for developers, users, and institutions.
• Citrea Origins Incubation Program Bitcoin incubation program that supports external builders launching projects on Citrea, providing grants, technical resources, community support, and go-to-market assistance to build Bapps on Bitcoin.

Quantifiable outcome

• $800B–$1.3T of idle Bitcoin capital addressable, with 61% of all BTC unmoved for over a year.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration34 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

46 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship infrastructure partner, core lending infrastructure partner, yield strategy partner, market-making / yield partner, flagship institutional partner, core infrastructure partner, cross-chain messaging partner, cross-chain liquidity partner, cross-chain swap partner, cross-chain aggregator partner, btc bridge partner, trustless swap partner, oracle partner, analytics partner, data indexer partner, account abstraction partner, auth/wallet sdk partner, data partner, wallet partner, flagship dex partner, dex partner, money market partner, privacy app partner, prediction market partner, yield partner, consumer payments partner, rwa / verification partner, lending partner, stablecoin partner, defi aggregator partner, dex aggregator partner, incentive distribution partner, payments partner, portfolio/data partner, multisig partner, block explorer partner, identity partner, nft/launchpad partner and consumer bitcoin app partner.

• MoonPayflagship infrastructure partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerMoonPay issues the ctUSD stablecoin 1:1 backed by cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries, and provides banking rails for fiat on- and off-ramps for Citrea users. ctUSD Terms of Service are hosted by MoonPay.
• Morphocore lending infrastructure partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCitrea developed its BTC-collateral lending infrastructure in partnership with Morpho, an Ethereum-based lending protocol. Morpho also appears in the Citrea ₿apps ecosystem.
• UltraYield by Edge Capitalyield strategy partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCitrea developed its BTC-collateral lending infrastructure in partnership with UltraYield by Edge Capital, supporting yield strategies for BTC-collateralized lending.
• Keyrockmarket-making / yield partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCitrea leveraged market-making strategies from Keyrock for institutional liquidity provisioning. Keyrock also appears in the Citrea ecosystem (yield.accountable.capital).
• Anchorage Digital Bankflagship institutional partnerTechnology or IntegrationAnchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., is integrated into the Citrea ecosystem to provide custody, staking, trading, governance, settlement, and yield services for institutional users.
• Avail (Avail Nexus + Avail DA)core infrastructure partnerTechnology or IntegrationAvail provides the data availability layer (Avail DA) for Citrea, with 250ms preconfirmations and ~20s DA finality. Avail Nexus powers the "Citrea Fast Bridge" for cross-chain asset transfers.
• Alchemycore infrastructure partnerTechnology or IntegrationAlchemy provides RPC and node infrastructure for the Citrea chain, supporting production-grade Web3 application development.
• LayerZerocross-chain messaging partnerTechnology or IntegrationLayerZero provides censorship-resistant cross-chain messaging for Citrea, enabling applications to move data across blockchains.
• Hyperlanecross-chain messaging partnerTechnology or IntegrationHyperlane provides an open interoperability framework for Citrea, allowing applications to communicate securely across multiple blockchains.
• Stargatecross-chain liquidity partnerTechnology or IntegrationStargate is integrated with Citrea as a bridging solution for cross-chain asset transfers.
• Squidcross-chain swap partnerTechnology or IntegrationSquid (squidrouter.com) connects Citrea with 100+ chains for seamless cross-chain swaps.
• Rangocross-chain aggregator partnerTechnology or IntegrationRango powers cross-chain swaps to/from Citrea, with ~$7B in cross-chain volume and zero-exploit history.
• Symbiosisbtc bridge partnerTechnology or IntegrationSymbiosis is a cross-chain bridge that allows users to bridge native Bitcoin to cBTC on Citrea.
• atomiq.exchangetrustless swap partnerTechnology or Integrationatomiq.exchange provides trustless atomic swaps between Bitcoin, Lightning, and Citrea using Bitcoin light-client (SPV) verification.
• Redstoneoracle partnerTechnology or IntegrationRedstone provides modular oracle price feeds for the Citrea ecosystem, aggregating on-chain liquidity with data from GUARD providers.
• Nansenanalytics partnerTechnology or IntegrationNansen provides AI-powered on-chain analytics and intelligence for the Citrea ecosystem.
• Goldskydata indexer partnerTechnology or IntegrationGoldsky is integrated with Citrea for high-performance data indexing and transformation, accessible via API or self-hosted.
• Enviodata indexer partnerTechnology or IntegrationEnvio provides a fast data indexing framework for querying real-time and historical data from Citrea.
• Pimlicoaccount abstraction partnerTechnology or IntegrationPimlico provides smart-account infrastructure (account abstraction) on Citrea.
• Dynamicauth/wallet sdk partnerTechnology or IntegrationDynamic provides authentication, smart wallets, and key management SDKs for Citrea applications.
• CoinGecko / GeckoTerminaldata partnerTechnology or IntegrationCoinGecko lists the Citrea USD stablecoin; GeckoTerminal provides real-time DEX tracking for Citrea pools.
• Rabby Walletwallet partnerTechnology or IntegrationRabby is a non-custodial EVM wallet integrated with Citrea.
• Ambire Walletwallet partnerTechnology or IntegrationAmbire Wallet is an open-source self-custodial Web3 wallet integrated with Citrea, supporting AA wallet and multisig features.
• Keplr Walletwallet partnerTechnology or IntegrationKeplr, the largest Cosmos wallet, is integrated with Citrea as a multichain non-custodial gateway.
• Satsumaflagship dex partnerTechnology or IntegrationSatsuma is a perpetual DEX and launchpad on Citrea, also used to trade CTR.
• JuiceSwapdex partnerTechnology or IntegrationJuiceSwap is an AMM protocol for Citrea, based on Uniswap V3.
• Zentramoney market partnerTechnology or IntegrationZentra is a decentralized money market built natively on Citrea, inspired by AAVE.
• Crestprivacy app partnerTechnology or IntegrationCrest is a self-custodial Bitcoin trading/privacy app built on Citrea.
• Signalsprediction market partnerTechnology or IntegrationSignals is a Bitcoin prediction market on Citrea using a custom CLMSR model.
• Elitrayield partnerTechnology or IntegrationElitra is a yield application built on Citrea.
• CellFiconsumer payments partnerTechnology or IntegrationCellFi is a mobile-first Bitcoin app for payments and DeFi on Citrea with no seed phrases.
• Accountablerwa / verification partnerTechnology or IntegrationAccountable provides real-time financial verification infrastructure (Data Verification Network) for institutions operating on Citrea.
• Mystic Financelending partnerTechnology or IntegrationMystic Finance is a modular lending market enabling curation of isolated markets on Citrea.
• Generic Protocolstablecoin partnerTechnology or IntegrationGeneric Protocol brings GUSD, an onchain dollar backed by USDC/USDT/USDS with opt-in privacy, to Citrea.
• DZapdefi aggregator partnerTechnology or IntegrationDZap is an AI-powered infrastructure layer that unifies DeFi liquidity across 150+ protocols and 80+ chains, accessible via Citrea.
• Fibrousdex aggregator partnerTechnology or IntegrationFibrous delivers trade execution and aggregation for DeFi trading on Citrea.
• Merklincentive distribution partnerTechnology or IntegrationMerkl connects DeFi projects on Citrea with users seeking reward opportunities through an incentive-distribution platform.
• DFX.swisspayments partnerTechnology or IntegrationDFX.swiss, a Swiss licensed fintech, provides fiat/crypto payment and liquidity infrastructure integrated with Citrea.
• DeBankportfolio/data partnerTechnology or IntegrationDeBank provides portfolio tracking and Web3 social features for Citrea users.
• Safe{Wallet}multisig partnerTechnology or IntegrationSafe{Wallet} multisig is deployed on Citrea (safe.citrea.xyz) by Protofire DAO.
• CitreaScanblock explorer partnerTechnology or IntegrationCitreaScan is the open-source block explorer for the Citrea Chain.
• Namoshi Name Serviceidentity partnerTechnology or IntegrationNamoshi is the first name service protocol on Citrea, supporting .btc and .citrea domain extensions.
• Foresightprediction market partnerTechnology or IntegrationForesight is a social-first prediction market integrated with Citrea.
• OmniHubnft/launchpad partnerTechnology or IntegrationOmniHub is a multichain NFT launchpad integrated with Citrea.
• Tanariconsumer bitcoin app partnerTechnology or IntegrationTanari is a consumer Bitcoin app integrated with Citrea.
• Teneroanalytics partnerTechnology or IntegrationTenero provides multi-chain analytics for the Bitcoin ecosystem including Citrea.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Stacks: Stacks is the most established Bitcoin L2, using a Proof-of-Transfer consensus to enable smart contracts and DeFi on Bitcoin. Citrea competes directly for Bitcoin-native DeFi developers, users, and BTC-denominated activity, but differs by using ZK proofs and BitVM-based verification instead of PoX.
• Rootstock (RSK): Rootstock is the longest-running Bitcoin L2, providing an EVM-compatible smart contract platform merged-mined with Bitcoin. Citrea is a direct competitor for EVM developers building on Bitcoin, with the key differentiation being ZK-rollup architecture versus Rootstock's sidechain model.
• BOB (Build on Bitcoin): BOB is a Bitcoin-secured L2 that combines EVM compatibility with Bitcoin staking via Babylon. It targets BTC-native DeFi and bridge BTC liquidity — overlapping significantly with Citrea's ₿apps vision, though using a different trust model (Bitcoin finality via Babylon rather than ZK proofs).
• Merlin Chain: Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin L2 focused on BTCFi with a ZK-based architecture and broad ecosystem of DeFi apps. It directly competes with Citrea for Bitcoin-native DeFi users, bapp developers, and BTC-collateralized lending volumes.
• B² Network: B² Network is a Bitcoin L2 using ZK proofs and a rollup architecture to enable EVM smart contracts and BTCFi. It is a direct technical and commercial peer to Citrea, both pursuing ZK-rollup design on Bitcoin with similar developer and user audiences.
• Botanix: Botanix is an EVM-equivalent Bitcoin L2 using a spiderchain/PoP consensus for Bitcoin security. It is a direct peer to Citrea in offering EVM tooling on Bitcoin, though with a different security model than ZK + BitVM.
• Alpen Labs (Strata): Alpen Labs is building Strata, a Bitcoin L2 leveraging ZK proofs and the BitVM paradigm. It targets the same BTCFi and capital markets use cases as Citrea and represents a peer competitor in the ZK-on-Bitcoin category.

Emerging players

• Babylon: Babylon is a Bitcoin staking protocol that enables BTC to be used as security for other chains (including PoS L2s like BOB). It is an adjacent, ecosystem-level player rather than a direct L2 competitor, but shapes the broader BTCFi narrative Citrea operates in.

Broad incumbents

• zkSync: zkSync (Matter Labs) is a leading ZK rollup on Ethereum, demonstrating the ZK-rollup design pattern Citrea applies to Bitcoin. While not a direct Bitcoin L2 competitor, it is the closest reference architecture and competes for EVM developer mindshare and ZK-rollup narrative leadership.

Others

• RISC Zero: RISC Zero provides the ZK proof technology (Type 2 zkEVM) that Citrea is built on. It is a critical infrastructure partner/enabler rather than a competitor, but its continued development and any pricing or licensing changes directly affect Citrea's technology stack and cost structure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/citrea_xyz
• GitHubgithub.com/chainwayxyz

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors11 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Citrea