Citrea Airdrop

Problem Solved

Bitcoin’s $1.3 trillion market cap is largely "economically idle." Users face a trilemma: keep BTC passive for security, or use centralized bridges (like WBTC) to access DeFi, risking their assets. Previous scaling attempts like sidechains required trusting honest majorities, compromising Bitcoin’s core value. Citrea solves this using ZK-rollups and BitVM. It provides EVM-equivalence, allowing Ethereum developers to migrate to Bitcoin without learning new languages. This creates a trust-minimized environment where Bitcoin acts as the data availability layer, scaling the network without hard forks or sacrificing decentralization.

Tokenomics

Citrea avoids inflationary governance tokens initially, using cBTC (1:1 BTC) for gas. This aligns incentives with Bitcoin miners by increasing L1 fee demand. A native stablecoin, ctUSD (backed by M0), provides regulated liquidity. While no governance token is live, the "Citrea User Dashboard" actively tracks on-chain activity, strongly suggesting a future airdrop. Allocation will likely reward early "₿apps" participants and liquidity providers. The fee model splits costs between L2 execution and L1 data availability, ensuring sustainable sequencer economics while maintaining a technical link to Bitcoin’s base layer.

Perspectives

Citrea aims for "Hyperbitcoinization," turning BTC into a foundational asset for institutional credit and private payments. Its roadmap includes advanced privacy via Crest and structured yield products with Keyrock. The long-term challenge is overcoming the network effects of Ethereum and Solana. However, its "pure" ZK approach and EVM compatibility give it a technical edge. If Citrea successfully bootstraps its ₿app ecosystem, it could become the primary application layer for the entire Bitcoin network, capturing significant TVL from users currently holding BTC in cold storage or centralized platforms.

Founders and Team

Built by Chainway Labs, the team consists of high-tier executives with computer science backgrounds. CEO Orkun Mahir Kılıç and co-founders Esad Yusuf Atik, Ekrem BAL and Murat Karademir possess deep roots in ZK-research and Bitcoin development. Their technical proficiency is evident in the successful implementation of BitVM2 and zkEVM. Backed by Galaxy Ventures’ infrastructure and legal support, the team demonstrates the maturity needed to handle complex regulatory landscapes and high-stakes engineering. Their ability to attract Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund for its first Bitcoin investment speaks volumes about their credibility and execution capability.

Funding

Citrea raised $16.7 million across two rounds. A $2.7M Seed round led by Galaxy Ventures was followed by a $14M Series A led by Founders Fund. Notable angels include Balaji Srinivasan and Erik Voorhees. This capital gives them a multi-year runway to scale their mainnet and developer ecosystem. More importantly, the caliber of investors provides Citrea with elite institutional access and strategic validation that few Bitcoin L2s possess. They have the financial and networking resources to compete with established players and weather long-term market volatility.

Community

The community is highly engaged, evidenced by the 33,400+ participants in the "Unfreeze ₿apps" testnet campaign. Sentiment is strong, with users praising the UX of early apps like Satsuma and Tanari. The "Citrea Origins" program effectively incentivizes developers via grants, ensuring a steady pipeline of native applications. With over 26,000 "₿apper Badge" holders, the project has successfully built a loyal base of early adopters. The Citrea Mainnet Campaign is an incentive and activity program launched alongside Citrea’s mainnet going live in January 2026. Instead of focusing just on the technical launch, Citrea has set up a campaign dashboard where users can participate in real network activity and potentially earn rewards by contributing to the ecosystem.

Competitors

Direct rivals include Bitlayer and Bsquared, which currently lead in TVL but rely on Optimistic proofs or federated setups. Indirect competition comes from Stacks (separate L1) and BOB (hybrid OP-stack). While Bitlayer has a head start in liquidity, Citrea’s ZK-rollup architecture offers a superior security profile. The market is getting crowded, but most "L2s" are glorified sidechains. Citrea’s technical "purity" and BitVM2 integration differentiate it as a more trust-minimized solution, though it faces a steep climb to unseat incumbents with established network effects.