#USA #Bitcoin #George Town #Citrea #ctUSD

Citrea Launches its Mainnet

Citrea, a leading Bitcoin application platform backed by Founders Fund and Galaxy Ventures, has officially launched its Mainnet, which allows for direct capital market activities within the Bitcoin network. This groundbreaking initiative comes with the introduction of ctUSD, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, issued by MoonPay and designed in alignment with forthcoming GENIUS Act guidelines. Together, the Citrea Mainnet and ctUSD create a robust infrastructure for USD settlements and liquidity in Bitcoin-centric financial operations.

In recent on-chain data, it was revealed that over 61% of Bitcoin, which boasts a market capitalization of approximately $1.3 trillion, has remained inactive for more than a year. This situation highlights the vast potential assets currently sitting idle due to a lack of native application infrastructure. Orkun Kilic, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, the company behind Citrea, emphasized that while Bitcoin is considered the largest digital asset globally, its capacity in financial markets has thus far been somewhat limited. He pointed out that despite a growing demand for Bitcoin involvement, a significant fraction of activities still occurs outside the blockchain, relying heavily on intermediaries.

The Citrea Mainnet addresses this issue by integrating Bitcoin-secured financial applications directly into the blockchain. It enables the seamless utilization, management, and settlement of capital within Bitcoin-native markets. The native settlement through ctUSD serves as a crucial link to fiat systems, facilitating various use cases, including BTC-secured loans and institutional credits. Citrea has established its lending framework in collaboration with leading DeFi players like Morpho and UltraYield from Edge Capital. The platform’s native offerings utilize both on-chain and off-chain strategies crafted by prominent digital asset institutions to generate secure and transparent BTC yields.

Bridget Harris, an Associate at Founders Fund, remarked on the tremendous market opportunity that Citrea unlocks by making Bitcoin truly programmable, a feature that has previously been lacking for the asset at scale. By developing developer-focused and user-oriented products that leverage Bitcoin’s security, Citrea is fundamentally expanding the Bitcoin economy. Will Nuelle, General Partner at Galaxy Ventures, echoed these sentiments, indicating that Citrea facilitates deeper, more native interactions with Bitcoin by bringing capital markets, stablecoin liquidity, and application infrastructure directly onto the network.

The implications of Citrea's approach are profound, influencing long-term demand, miner incentives, and institutional handling of Bitcoin. With Citrea, institutions can now adopt capital-efficient strategies and gain greater control and flexibility compared to off-chain platforms. As block subsidies gradually decrease, Citrea is adjusting network security in accordance with real economic usage.

Overall, the Citrea Mainnet and ctUSD are now operational, marking a significant advancement in the way Bitcoin can be leveraged within the global financial ecosystem. To learn more about Citrea and its innovative offerings, visit citrea.xyz.

About Citrea

Citrea represents a Bitcoin application layer that connects institutions and users to Bitcoin capital markets. The platform aims to broaden the financial usability of Bitcoin while maintaining alignment with the network's security model. It has garnered support from investors including Founders Fund, Galaxy Ventures, Maven 11, Delphi Digital, Erik Voorhees, Balaji Srinivasan, among others.