Citrea: Enabling Developers to Build Everything on Bitcoin
Citrea, Bitcoin’s first ZK rollup, has emerged from stealth mode, offering developers the ability to build a wide range of applications on the Bitcoin network. By leveraging zero-knowledge technology, Citrea enhances the capabilities of Bitcoin blockspace while ensuring the security and consensus rules of the original blockchain. Every transaction on Citrea is secured by zero-knowledge proofs and verified by Bitcoin through BitVM. This marks a significant milestone for Bitcoin scalability, providing a secure way to scale the network without compromising its founding principles. Developers can now access Citrea’s developer contact form and explore its technical documentation.
The Challenge of Scaling Bitcoin
Bitcoin has faced the challenge of how to handle more transactions and support diverse applications while maintaining its security and censorship resistance. Previous scalability proposals have failed to effectively utilize the Bitcoin blockchain itself. However, zero-knowledge proofs offer a secure solution for scaling Bitcoin, with ZK rollups being the most suitable construction within Bitcoin’s block size limit.
Citrea: Expanding Possibilities on Bitcoin
Citrea introduces ZK Rollups to Bitcoin, allowing developers to build a wide range of applications on top of the network. It enhances Bitcoin’s blockspace capabilities and provides a trustless execution environment for all participants of the Bitcoin network. Citrea’s validity proofs are inscribed in Bitcoin and optimistically verified via BitVM, ensuring consistent fee revenue for miners and scalability beyond the Bitcoin network. With Citrea, developers can create various applications such as DeFi with BTC, private transfers, swaps with BTC, and develop new layers on top of Citrea.
Key Features of Citrea
- Full Bitcoin Security: Citrea inherits all four security properties of Bitcoin, ensuring validity, liveness, re-org resistance, and censorship resistance.
- Bitcoin Settlement: Citrea is settled on Bitcoin, enabling the first Layer 2 verification and a trust-minimized two-way peg mechanism.
- EVM Equivalency: Citrea offers a Type 2 zkEVM that is fully equivalent to Ethereum’s EVM, allowing EVM developers to build on Bitcoin effortlessly.
Unveiling Citrea to the Public
Citrea is now available to developers who wish to build on the platform. The developer contact form is open for inquiries, and Citrea plans to release its codebase as open source in the first quarter of 2024. The testnet launch is scheduled for the second quarter of 2024. Chainway Labs, the company behind Citrea, has been developing the platform for over a year. They have previously built Proof of Innocence and OrdinalSafe.
About Citrea
Citrea is the first rollup that enhances Bitcoin blockspace capabilities using zero-knowledge technology. It aims to enable developers to build everything on Bitcoin. For more information, visit Citrea’s website.
Hot Take: Citrea Unlocks Infinite Possibilities on Bitcoin
Citrea’s emergence as the first ZK rollup for Bitcoin opens up a world of possibilities for developers. By leveraging zero-knowledge technology and settling on Bitcoin, Citrea provides a secure and scalable solution for building applications on the network. With its unique features and focus on preserving Bitcoin’s core principles, Citrea has the potential to revolutionize decentralized finance and other financial activities anchored on Bitcoin. By expanding Bitcoin’s blockspace capabilities, Citrea unlocks the immense value of the network and establishes a symbiotic relationship between Bitcoin and its scaling solution. With Citrea, you can now explore new frontiers on the world’s leading cryptocurrency.
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