Citrea, a Bitcoin application platform backed by Founders Fund and Galaxy Ventures, announced the creation of the Citrea Foundation, an independent organization aimed at accelerating the growth and decentralization of Bitcoin’s programmable ecosystem.

The foundation will serve ‘as the steward’ of the Citrea Network, supporting open-source development, fostering community growth, and expanding access to Bitcoin applications focused on self-custody, privacy, and capital market activity.

Orkun Kilic, director of the Citrea Foundation and co-founder of Chainway Labs, said the initiative will guide research and ecosystem development to shape a future where interactions with Bitcoin rely on secure self-custody, privacy, and efficient capital markets. 

Kilic said, in a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, that the foundation will provide the structure needed to enable builders and institutions to participate in the network while maintaining its decentralized principles.

The foundation will fund cryptography research and infrastructure projects designed to create trustless bridges that remove reliance on external collateral or liquidity constraints. 

It will also provide strategic support to developers and projects that expand Bitcoin’s financial utility, offering grants and technical guidance to foster a broader ecosystem of capital-efficient applications.

Murat Karademir, co-founder and COO of Chainway Labs, and an independent non-executive director based in the Cayman Islands join Kilic on the foundation’s board. 

The board is responsible for ensuring that the foundation’s activities align with its mission to support decentralization while promoting a healthy and active developer community.

The Citrea Foundation is positioned as a central element in Citrea’s long-term goal of network decentralization. 

By coordinating research, funding development, and engaging the community, the foundation intends to expand access to Bitcoin applications and reduce barriers for users seeking self-custodial and privacy-focused solutions. 

Observers say the initiative signals a strategic push to strengthen Bitcoin’s position as a programmable financial network capable of supporting complex capital market activity.

Citrea itself operates as a Bitcoin application layer, providing institutions and individual users with tools to access Bitcoin capital markets while maintaining alignment with the network’s security model. 

Citrea mainnet

Back in January, Citrea launched its mainnet along with ctUSD, a U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin fully backed by short-term Treasuries, aiming to enable lending, trading, and other financial activity directly on the Bitcoin network. 

The company said they seek to unlock the largely idle $1.2 trillion of Bitcoin that hasn’t moved in over a year by providing compliant, on-chain capital market infrastructure.

The platform has drawn investment from Founders Fund, Galaxy Ventures, Maven 11, Delphi Digital, Erik Voorhees, and Balaji Srinivasan, reflecting growing confidence in Bitcoin’s evolving financial ecosystem.