Citrea has launched Citrea USD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin designed to provide a unified settlement layer for bitcoin-denominated markets and activate capital that largely remains idle. The new stablecoin, known as ctUSD, is fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and cash equivalents and is intended to operate as native infrastructure for bitcoin-based finance. Citrea is backed by major investors including Founders Fund and Galaxy Ventures. The company positions ctUSD as a response to fragmentation created by externally issued or bridged stablecoins, which are commonly used in bitcoin-related trading and lending today. By introducing a regulated dollar settlement asset designed specifically for bitcoin markets, Citrea aims to support more efficient trading, lending, and settlement without relying on cross-chain liquidity or synthetic representations of fiat value.
The stablecoin is issued by MoonPay and powered by M0, with an emphasis on regulatory alignment as global rules around stablecoins continue to take shape. Citrea has stated that ctUSD is structured to comply with forthcoming U.S. legislation, including frameworks such as the GENIUS Act, as policymakers push for clearer standards around reserve backing and issuance. The product is expected to be available across most U.S. jurisdictions excluding New York, as well as in more than 160 countries. By anchoring settlement directly to treasury-backed dollars, the project aims to make bitcoin-based financial activity resemble traditional market infrastructure while maintaining onchain efficiency and programmability.
Citrea’s broader objective is to address a long-standing structural limitation in crypto markets, where bitcoin’s market capitalization exceeds one trillion dollars but is primarily held as a passive asset. According to the company, the lack of native dollar settlement on bitcoin rails has limited capital mobility and pushed activity toward external ecosystems. By enabling BTC-secured lending, trading, and settlement using a single onchain dollar unit, Citrea is seeking to reduce liquidity fragmentation and operational risk. The initiative reflects a wider industry shift toward building regulated, institution-friendly infrastructure around bitcoin, as developers focus on unlocking economic utility without altering the asset’s core monetary role.
