Loading organizations...
§ Private Profile · George Town, Midland, Cayman Islands
Bitcoin's first zero-knowledge rollup, enabling Ethereum-level programmability for developers building scalable applications secured by Bitcoin.
Founded in 2023 by Orkun Mahir Kılıç, Murat Karademir, and Esad Yusuf Atik, Citrea is a zero-knowledge rollup protocol developed by Chainway Labs bringing Ethereum-level programmability to the Bitcoin network. Operating from an undisclosed location, the platform utilizes Bitcoin as its foundational settlement and data availability layer to enable developers to build full-scale applications via BitVM-based bridges like Clementine. The organization has raised $16.7 million in venture capital, comprising a $2.7 million seed round and a $14 million Series A financing backed by investors including Galaxy Ventures, Delphi Ventures, and Figment Capital. This funding allows the enterprise to target institutions, users, and EVM developers building scalable applications on Bitcoin capital markets without requiring any new programming languages. Additionally, the leadership team established the Citrea Foundation to distribute grants, fund ongoing research, and promote decentralization for Bitcoin applications.
Citrea has raised $17.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Citrea has raised $17.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Citrea has raised $17.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $14.0M Series A in October 2024.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2024 | $14M Series A | Founders Fund | Alchemy Ventures, Eurazeo, Gradient Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Polygon Labs, Saga, Balaji Srinivasan | Announced |
| Feb 1, 2024 | $3M Seed | — | Polygon Labs | Announced |
Citrea is a blockchain technology company developing the first zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup for Bitcoin, transforming it from a passive store of value into a programmable platform for applications like DeFi, NFTs, and games.[1][5][6] It builds an EVM-compatible Layer 2 (L2) network using zkEVM technology, settling transactions on Bitcoin's base layer via BitVM for security, while earning revenue from network transaction fees as developer adoption grows.[1][4][5] Headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey (with some profiles listing Cayman Islands), Citrea serves developers and users seeking scalable Bitcoin applications, solving Bitcoin's limitations in smart contract expressivity and throughput without altering its core consensus rules.[1][2][3]
Launched by Chainway Labs in 2022, Citrea raised $2.7M in seed funding (led by Galaxy Ventures) in 2023 and $14M in a Series A on October 31, 2024, led by Founders Fund—Peter Thiel's first Bitcoin ecosystem investment—with total funding at $16.7M.[1][4] Its testnet is live, enabling EVM developers to deploy Ethereum apps unchanged on Bitcoin, driving early momentum in Bitcoin's L2 ecosystem.[1][5]
Citrea emerged from Chainway Labs, founded in 2022 by a team of computer scientists led by CEO Orkun Mahir Kılıç and co-founder Murat Karademir.[1][4] The idea crystallized in February 2024 when the duo announced Citrea as Bitcoin's first ZK-rollup, addressing the network's scalability constraints amid rising demand for programmable Bitcoin applications.[4][6] Early traction came via a $2.7M seed round in 2023, backed by Galaxy Ventures, Delphi Ventures, Figment Capital's James Parillo, Taproot Wizards co-founder Eric Wall, and Blockscout founder Igor Barinov, validating their vision for ZK-enhanced Bitcoin.[1][4]
Pivotal moments include the 2024 Series A, attracting high-profile investors like Founders Fund, Maven11, Mirana, and dao5, and the launch of the Clementine bridge on testnet, enabling trust-minimized Bitcoin transfers.[1][5] This bootstrapped a developer-focused push, humanizing Bitcoin's evolution through technical innovation rather than hype.
Citrea rides the Bitcoin L2 wave, capitalizing on Bitcoin's $1T+ market cap and post-2024 halving surge in demand for yield-generating apps amid stagnant base-layer scalability.[1][6] Timing aligns with maturing ZK tech (zkEVMs) and BitVM's development, enabling complex smart contracts on Bitcoin without forks—countering Ethereum's dominance in DeFi.[4][6] Market forces like institutional Bitcoin adoption (e.g., ETFs) and developer migration from high-fee L1s favor Citrea, positioning it to capture fees from a "Bitcoin DeFi" boom similar to Ethereum's L2 ascent (Arbitrum, Optimism).[1]
By making Bitcoin "app bedrock," Citrea influences the ecosystem, drawing EVM talent, increasing on-chain activity, and potentially unlocking trillions in dormant BTC for programmable finance, while reinforcing Bitcoin's principles over centralized alternatives.[3][5][6]
Citrea's testnet momentum and Founders Fund backing signal mainnet launch in 2025-2026, with growth tied to BitVM maturity and Bitcoin DeFi TVL explosion.[1][4][5] Trends like ZK interoperability, AI-driven dApps, and regulatory clarity for BTC L2s will accelerate adoption, potentially scaling to millions of TPS while capturing 1-5% of Bitcoin's fee market. Its influence could evolve from pioneer to infrastructure kingpin, enabling "everything on Bitcoin" and challenging Ethereum's programmability moat—cementing Bitcoin as finance's unassailable foundation.[5][6]
Citrea has raised $17.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Citrea's investors include Founders Fund, Alchemy Ventures, Eurazeo, Gradient Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Polygon, Saga, Balaji Srinivasan.