Citrea, a Bitcoin application platform supported by Founders Fund and Galaxy Ventures, has officially launched its mainnet, aiming to enhance lending, trading, and various capital market activities directly on the Bitcoin network. This significant development coincides with the unveiling of ctUSD, a new U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin issued by MoonPay and powered by M0. Fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and cash, ctUSD is designed to comply with the forthcoming GENIUS Act, positioning it as a compliant settlement layer for financial transactions conducted within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Despite Bitcoin’s impressive market capitalization of approximately $1.3 trillion, on-chain data reveals that a large portion of Bitcoin remains economically inactive. Over 61% of Bitcoin—an estimated $1.2 trillion—has not been moved in over a year, highlighting a scarcity of native financial infrastructure available on the network. “Bitcoin is the world’s largest digital asset, yet its role in financial markets has been largely constrained,” remarked Orkun Kilic, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, the firm behind Citrea. He emphasized that by implementing Bitcoin-secured financial applications on-chain, Citrea is enabling the deployment, management, and settlement of capital directly within Bitcoin-native markets.
The platform will initially concentrate on two primary product categories: BTC-backed lending and BTC structured products. Its lending infrastructure has been developed in collaboration with decentralized finance firms Morpho and UltraYield by Edge Capital. For the structured product offerings, Citrea is partnering with digital asset market makers like Keyrock to provide BTC-denominated yield strategies that merge on-chain and off-chain elements. The company has indicated that more than 30 Bitcoin-native applications are already ready to launch on the platform, catering to various institutional and retail financial use cases.
Bridget Harris, an associate at Founders Fund, noted, “Citrea is addressing a huge market opportunity in helping to make Bitcoin truly programmable.” She emphasized that by leveraging Bitcoin’s robust security while facilitating application development, Citrea would contribute to scaling the Bitcoin economy as a whole.
Galaxy Ventures general partner Will Nuelle added that integrating capital markets and stablecoin liquidity directly onto Bitcoin could foster deeper institutional engagement with the network. This strategy not only aims to expand Bitcoin’s utility but could also influence miner economics. As block subsidies decrease over time, a surge in transaction-driven activity could sustain miner incentives by tying real economic usage directly to the base layer.
With the mainnet and ctUSD now operational, Citrea is poised to significantly shape the future of financial interactions within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
