Bitcoin is widely recognized for its security and decentralization, but its scalability has remained a challenge. Block size limitations and high fees make it difficult to support high-throughput applications directly on the network.
Citrea introduces a new approach with Bitcoin Appchains (Bappchains)—scalable execution environments that inherit Bitcoin’s security while enabling significantly higher transaction capacity. By integrating Celestia for data availability (DA), Citrea enhances Bitcoin’s capabilities without requiring changes to the base layer.
How Citrea Works
Citrea is a zero-knowledge rollup (ZK-rollup) that batches transactions, processes them off-chain, and submits cryptographic proofs to Bitcoin. This approach ensures:
Higher transaction throughput – Citrea aggregates multiple transactions into a single proof, reducing congestion on Bitcoin’s base layer.
Bitcoin-equivalent security – Every transaction batch is verified through a zero-knowledge proof (zkSNARK), ensuring correctness without requiring Bitcoin to verify each transaction individually.
Bitcoin as the only trust source – All rollup state differences and proofs are stored on Bitcoin, eliminating reliance on external committees.
Censorship resistance – Citrea enables forced transaction inscriptions on Bitcoin, ensuring that transactions cannot be excluded by any single entity.
This design allows Citrea to function as a scalable, censorship-resistant execution environment for Bitcoin applications while maintaining the integrity of Bitcoin’s security model.
Why Celestia?
Bitcoin’s architecture makes storing large amounts of transaction data inefficient. Citrea integrates Celestia’s modular DA layer, allowing rollups to store transaction data off-chain while ensuring accessibility for verification.
This integration enables:
Improved scalability – Celestia provides an optimized DA solution, allowing Citrea to support 200 times more transactions while significantly reducing fees.
Secure data availability proofs – With BlobstreamX by Succinct Labs, Citrea generates verifiable proofs that ensure transaction data remains available without burdening Bitcoin.
Efficient data storage – Instead of storing full rollup data on Bitcoin, Celestia optimizes storage, reducing costs for both users and developers.
By separating execution from data availability, Celestia enhances Bitcoin’s ability to support scalable applications without compromising security or decentralization.
Citrea’s Role in Bitcoin’s Future
Citrea introduces a trust-minimized bridge called Clementine, which leverages BitVM to facilitate a secure and decentralized Bitcoin-to-Citrea connection. This enables:
Trust-minimized Bitcoin interoperability – Bridging assets between Bitcoin and Citrea without requiring intermediaries.
EVM compatibility – Developers can build on Citrea using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making Bitcoin app development more accessible.
Native Bitcoin transactions – Citrea uses cBTC, a Bitcoin-pegged asset, ensuring native Bitcoin usability within the ecosystem.
As demand for Bitcoin scalability grows, solutions like Citrea, powered by Celestia’s modular infrastructure, provide a practical path forward for high-throughput applications without compromising the network’s core principles.
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At Stakecito Labs, we've honed our craft as validators. Our reputation as the third-largest validator by delegation count within the Cosmos ecosystem speaks to our unwavering dedication and the trust placed in us by over 270,000 delegators worldwide.
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