Citrea, a Bitcoin layer-2 blockchain, has launched ctUSD, a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin.
According to a recent CoinDesk report, ctUSD is designed as a liquidity standard within the Citrea ecosystem and connects to the Bitcoin network based on zero-knowledge proofs. It is MoonPay's first stablecoin and is backed 1:1 by U.S. Treasuries and cash.
The Bitcoin-focused decentralised finance (DeFi) market has struggled with a lack of stablecoin liquidity. As existing dollar tokens were dispersed through multiple bridges, transaction slippage and system risk increased. Citrea said it will address these issues by issuing ctUSD natively. Orkun Mahir Kilic, co-founder of Chainway Labs, emphasised, "ctUSD eliminates bridges to prevent liquidity fragmentation," adding, "Only one official asset exists."
ctUSD can be used in 49 U.S. states excluding New York, the European Economic Area (EEA) and more than about 160 countries outside Canada. MoonPay plans to expand issuance of regulated digital dollars starting with ctUSD.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr