Here we track the progress of the leading builders within the ZK-Bitcoin ecosystem, documenting recent significant releases, technical breakthroughs and general updates.
Over the past 1.5 years, Citrea has been developing a ZK rollup for Bitcoin, culminating in the release of its first public devnet and testnet. With a codebase of 1,392 commits, Citrea introduced Clementine (758 commits), a BitVM-based two-way peg program. Citrea's roadmap includes integrating multiple zkVMs, developing a Bitcoin Light Client, and aiming to expand Bitcoin's ecosystem through Citrea Origins, an incubation program for developers:
https://www.blog.citrea.xyz/citrea-road-to-mainnet/
GOAT Network launched their Early GOAT Pre-Mining campaign, letting BTC and DOGE holders earn over 30% Mining Rewards Rate (MRR) in BTC. The pools quickly filled, reaffirming the huge demand for yield on BTC and DOGE assets and building strong momentum towards their alpha mainnet launch in Q1 2025:
https://www.goat.network/blog/early-goat-pre-mining
Nubit has launched BitVM IDE , enabling ZKP verification on Bitcoin. Supported by ZeroSync, Alpen Labs, and Citrea, it lets users create, test, and validate computations like x * y = z. Future updates will allow custom circuits and support for Goldinals, a new asset protocol boosting Bitcoin's programmability and decentralized asset control:
In addition, Nubit secured $8M in seed funding, led by Polychain, raising its total to $12M. The funds support Nubit’s scalable data availability layer for multi-chain ecosystems, enhancing apps in AI, SocialFi, and GameFi while integrating Bitcoin’s security with L2 frameworks: https://medium.com/nubit-official/polychain-leads-8m-seed-round-for-nubit-to-enhance-blockchain-scalability-and-multi-chain-bea6c98eb46e
Alpen Labs is developing a Bitcoin bridge for its Strata platform. The Strata bridge enables 1:1 parity between BTC on Strata and BTC on Bitcoin, allowing seamless withdrawals with minimal trust. Using innovations from the BitVM2 framework, it improves efficiency with novel techniques like covenants, connector outputs, and one-time signatures. The bridge enables trust-minimized deposits and withdrawals, allowing users to transfer assets securely between Bitcoin and Strata:
https://www.alpenlabs.io/blog/introducing-the-strata-bridge
BitcoinOS has implemented the first ZK bridge transaction from Bitcoin L1 to the EVM-compatible Merlin Chain. Using the BitSNARK protocol, BTC was cryptographically transferred without custodians:
Additionally, Mode is integrating BitcoinOS’s Grail bridge, enabling trustless transfers between Bitcoin and Ethereum L2: https://www.bitcoinos.build/blog/mode-integrates-bos-in-epic-fusion-of-bitcoin-defi-and-ai
sCrypt has unveiled a proof-of-concept bridge covenant on Bitcoin, designed to facilitate interoperability with L2 networks like Starknet. The bridge enables batch processing of deposit and withdrawal requests, using recursive covenants and Merkle trees to maintain account states. Four smart contracts - DepositAggregator, WithdrawalAggregator, Bridge, and WithdrawalExpander - govern the system, ensuring secure, efficient fund transfers:
https://starkware.co/blog/implementing-a-bridge-covenant-on-op-cat-bitcoin/
Babylon Bitcoin staking Cap-3 launched December 10, offering new ways to stake BTC. Participants can stake via wallets, exchanges, LST protocols, or custodians. Notable updates include a 5k BTC transaction limit and faster, more cost-effective staking options:
Fiamma Bridge, powered by BitVM2, launches the first trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge. It eliminates reliance on multisig or intermediaries, enabling secure cross-chain transfers backed by Bitcoin’s consensus:
https://x.com/Fiamma_Chain/status/1859983555864240355
Also, Fiamma announced that it has raised $4 million in a oversubscribed seed round led by FactionVC and Iterative: https://x.com/Fiamma_Chain/status/1864332351871885503
Fractal launches on-chain voting via OP_CAT, empowering community decisions on Bitcoin:
https://www.fractalbitcoin.io/updates/introducing-fractal-vote
Fractal also introduced 10-year treasury timelocks, ensuring transparent, on-chain fund distribution for its Ecosystem Treasury and Community Grants: https://www.fractalbitcoin.io/updates/celebrating-3-months-of-fractal-a-journey-of-innovation-and-growth-
LayerEdge and Zeeve have partnered to bring ZK Rollups to Bitcoin with up to 99% reduced verification costs. By combining Zeeve’s Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) platform with LayerEdge’s proof aggregation, developers can deploy ZK Rollups efficiently while leveraging Bitcoin’s PoW security:
