The L2 scaling project for Bitcoin, Citrea, has launched its mainnet along with a native stablecoin.
1/8 Today, Citrea Mainnet Goes Live 🍊🍋
— Citrea (@citrea_xyz) January 27, 2026
We are officially live with the first Bitcoin application layer that enables institutions and individuals to lend, trade, and settle directly on the Bitcoin Network.
Start your journey with Citrea Dashboard: https://t.co/adOsBrrFVb 🧵 pic.twitter.com/DISDyxlzBG
The protocol employs the BitVM mechanism and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) technology to issue cBTC via the Clementine bridge. This solution minimizes trust—only one honest party is needed to detect and prevent wrongdoing, the developers noted.
The mainnet functions as a rollup, facilitating off-chain transaction execution while relying on the Bitcoin network as its settlement layer.
Citrea initially supports trading and liquidity provision services through decentralized exchanges (DEXs) Satsuma, JuiceSwap, and Fibrous. Users can also access lending services on the Morpho platform.
The team announced that options for private payments and trading on Crest, as well as access to market forecasts through Signals, will be added "soon."
The project has introduced the ctUSD stablecoin for "Bitcoin-oriented markets." This asset is issued by MoonPay and operates on M0 infrastructure. According to the announcement, the token complies with the GENIUS Act and is available to users in the U.S. and 160 other countries.
"This marks the beginning of the next major experiment in creating sustainable demand for block space," commented Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp on the launch of Citrea.
Recall that in January, the Boundless team introduced a method for using Bitcoin to verify resource-intensive ZKPs.