According to TechFlow, Citrea released a public development network for developers and users on June 5, 2024. This is the first time that Bitcoin has been tested as a data availability layer. This release makes Bitcoin the base layer for complex applications, and developers can take advantage of the complete security of Bitcoin. At the same time, users can also interact with applications deployed on the network.
Citrea is the first ZK rollup to use Bitcoin as a data availability and settlement layer, implemented through its BitVM-based trust-minimized two-way peg program Clementine. Citrea is fully EVM-compatible, enabling all EVM developers to easily build applications on Bitcoin.
Citrea's vision is to build scalable infrastructure that propels Bitcoin into its next phase as the foundation of world finance. Achieving this vision requires scaling the Bitcoin blockspace to increase its transaction capacity and provide more expressiveness and functionality without changing its consensus rules.
Users can now transfer test BTC from the custom Bitcoin signet to the Citrea public Devnet to use decentralized applications on the Devnet. Although the funds have no real value during the Devnet and Testnet stages, the Citrea team still prioritizes allowing users to experience this trustless claiming feature.