Citrea has just been launched on the mainnet. It is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 combining ZK proofs and BitVM, providing programmability and scalability. Compatible with EVM, it enables the execution of decentralized finance applications, stablecoins, and NFTs, while anchoring directly to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Citrea brings more programmability secured by Bitcoin
This week, Citrea was finally launched on the mainnet. It is the first application layer compatible with Ethereum’s EVM built directly on Bitcoin. This Layer 2 should therefore allow all applications used in the Ethereum ecosystem, such as decentralized finance protocols, stablecoins, and NFTs, to be secured by Bitcoin itself, mitigating the need for trust.
Citrea relies in particular on zero-knowledge proof technology, or ZK proofs and their rollups, which allows a large number of transactions to be managed quickly and inexpensively, while performing regular anchors on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Thanks to BitVM and the Clementine bridge, Citrea can circulate BTC, called cBTC, which is verifiable on its platform. Citrea also offers a stablecoin, ctUSD, issued by MoonPay, which guarantees a 1:1 peg thanks to a reserve backed by short-term US Treasury bills and liquid dollars.
Is Citrea what Bitcoin needed to scale up?
BitVM is a technology that allows rollups to be created on Bitcoin without having to change its consensus rules. Inspired by Ethereum’s optimistic rollups, it is based on a fraud proof system and a challenge-response protocol, where any suspicious transaction can be challenged if it is deemed fraudulent.
The goal of BitVM is to make Bitcoin more programmable by allowing complex calculations to be performed, up to so-called Turing-complete contracts, while preserving the integrity, security, and decentralization of the main blockchain.
While Citrea has a major advantage in integrating into the EVM ecosystem with over $100 billion in TVL from the outset, other infrastructures are pursuing the same goal of expanding Bitcoin’s capabilities, adopting approaches closer to the cypherpunk spirit that inspired Bitcoin in its early days.
Indeed, although BitVM allows Citrea to anchor and secure its activity on Bitcoin, its infrastructure is not free from certain limitations inherited from Ethereum and its rollups. These include a relative dependence on stablecoins, as well as centralization of the sequencer and provers, which could theoretically lead to transaction censorship, even though ZK proofs guarantee the integrity and validity of rollup states.
The Bitcoin ecosystem is thus seeing the emergence of other solutions such as RGB, an ultra-scalable layer focused on privacy, and Arkade, a layer 2 offering almost unlimited programmability, while linking each transaction to real on-chain Bitcoin UTXOs.
