Peter Thiel and Galaxy-backed Citrea wants to turn idle bitcoin into a high-speed bank account

Tech Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Peter Thiel and Galaxy-backed Citrea wants to turn idle bitcoin into a high-speed bank account Founders Fund and Galaxy-backed Citrea is aiming to unlock Bitcoin-denominated credit markets with a new mainnet and a Treasury-backed stablecoin designed for USD settlement. By Jamie Crawley , AI Boost | Edited by Aoyon Ashraf Jan 28, 2026, 3:10 p.m. Make us preferred on Google What to know : Citrea has debuted its mainnet, enabling Bitcoin-backed lending, trading and structured products directly tied to the Bitcoin network. The platform introduced ctUSD, a Treasury-backed stablecoin issued by MoonPay and designed to align with forthcoming U.S. stablecoin rules. Citrea says the rollout aims to mobilize idle BTC and provide an institutional-grade settlement layer for Bitcoin-based capital markets. Citrea, a Bitcoin-focused application platform backed by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Galaxy Ventures, has unveiled its mainnet, opening the door for bitcoin to be used more directly across lending, trading and U.S. dollar settlement, according to an announcement on Tuesday . The debut also includes ctUSD, a native stablecoin fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and cash. The token is issued by MoonPay, with Citrea positioning it as compliant with the GENIUS Act framework . STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the The Protocol Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . The project built ctUSD as a settlement and liquidity layer that can support institutional-grade activity, natively anchored to Bitcoin rather than relying on intermediaries or wrapped BTC. Citrea, which has raised $16.7 million across two funding rounds , is one of numerous Bitcoin-focused projects looking to enable functions on the world's original blockchain. Rather than just holding bitcoin and letting it sit idle in the long term, these firms hope to enable further monetization of investors' bitcoin, including lending and stablecoin issuance. Prominent examples of such competitors include layer-2s Botanix and Stacks . Orkun Kilic, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, which is building Citrea, said the mainnet is designed to bring Bitcoin-secured financial activity onchain, enabling BTC-backed lending and institutional credit with settlement through ctUSD. Citrea said more than 30 Bitcoin-native applications are already prepared to serve users across additional financial use cases, as platforms increasingly look to expand Bitcoin’s role beyond passive holding. Bitcoin News Stablecoin Lending Rollups AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . More For You Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture By CoinDesk Research Dec 30, 2025 Commissioned by Pudgy Penguins Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale. What to know : Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token. 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