Overview
What is Citrea?
Citrea is Bitcoin’s first ZK rollup and application layer, enabling programmable ₿apps (Bitcoin applications) for lending, trading, and settlement secured by Bitcoin. The protocol bridges the gap between Bitcoin’s security and limited native application support, allowing trustless DeFi without moving liquidity off-chain.
Built by Chainway Labs, Citrea provides users with liquidity, utility, privacy, payments, and earning opportunities directly on Bitcoin while preserving its security guarantees. The project raised $16.7M in funding, including a $14M Series A led by Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), with participation from Maven11, Mirana Ventures, dao5, and Erik Voorhees.
Citrea’s mainnet went live in early 2026, offering users access to Bitcoin-native DeFi applications including bridges, trading protocols, and lending platforms. The ZK rollup settles transactions on Bitcoin while supporting smart contract functionality.