<h2 id="crypto-news">Crypto News</h2>
Citrea has launched its mainnet, enabling Bitcoin-backed lending, trading, and structured products directly tied to the Bitcoin network. The platform, backed by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Galaxy Ventures, <a href="https://www.blog.citrea.xyz/citrea-mainnet-is-live/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">aims</a> to mobilize idle Bitcoin holdings and provide institutional-grade settlement infrastructure for Bitcoin-based capital markets.
The launch includes ctUSD, a native stablecoin fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and cash. MoonPay issues the token, which Citrea positions as compliant with the GENIUS Act framework. The project built ctUSD as a settlement and liquidity layer supporting institutional-grade activity natively anchored to Bitcoin.
Citrea raised $16.7 million across two funding rounds. The platform joins numerous Bitcoin-focused projects attempting to enable additional functions on the original blockchain. Rather than holding Bitcoin passively long-term, these firms seek to enable monetization through lending and stablecoin issuance.
Orkun Kilic, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, which is building Citrea, said the mainnet brings Bitcoin-secured financial activity on-chain. The platform enables BTC-backed lending and institutional credit with settlement through ctUSD. The stablecoin does not rely on intermediaries or wrapped BTC.
More than 30 Bitcoin-native applications are prepared to serve users across additional financial use cases, according to Citrea. Platforms are increasingly working to expand Bitcoin's role beyond passive holding. Prominent competitors include layer-2s Botanix and Stacks, which also focus on Bitcoin-based financial services.
The mainnet debut follows the announcement made Tuesday. The Treasury-backed stablecoin is designed for USD settlement within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Citrea stated the rollout aims to create Bitcoin-denominated credit markets that function as high-speed settlement infrastructure.

Citrea Launches Bitcoin Lending With ctUSD Token

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