A Guide to Building Bitcoin Applications on Citrea I Talip Akalin

My name is Talip. Um, today I'm going to talk about Citria and what you can do in the Sakaton. Happy to be here with all of you and uh hopefully I can go over what we're doing and then you know everything will be fine and uh yep this is kind of a newer version for Bonitis particularly for you. Um you know feel free to ask any questions at the end. So some background my name is Talip.

I met every engineer at Citria. Before that I was doing protocol engineering. Um you know I also attended some hackathons as well. I also earned some prices as well and etc. So kind of understand how you feel and what's missing.

Um and yeah I spend my time talking with developers all around the world trying to build on Citra. So, you know, if you have any questions or any concerns or any thoughts that just feel free to send a message to me, here's my QR code for you to scan if you want. Um, yep. Uh, you can scan and then, you know, ask anything you want here or online. Uh, today's agenda.

So, in the first slides, I will go over what Bitcoin is actually. um which is we of which is something that we often overlook and then I will explain what citra is which is a bitcoin rollup and then I will go over the things that you can hack in this hackathon and then you know I will also talk about the things that we do after hackathon for particularly hackers that are interested in um yep so bitcoin is bitcoin and this is even true for an eth global hackathon what I mean is it's a system that started with the white paper itself which had a lot of influence over the global economy. Um it is a system with a really good price. Uh I think this graph is a little bit old but still um it is a good system with good price and primarily the reason many people like it unfortunately and uh this is widely accepted everywhere and uh you know we still don't know who Satoshi is and uh I believe this is kind of a feature uh of this blockchain primarily because the founder or the innovator you know being anonymous kind of helps us in that end and uh it's something really really taking for granted for the sake of sovereignty of the network itself and uh you know everyone keeps using it and then everyone is really happy that price are increasing and then they keep issuing more ETFs and then they just keep going on and on and on for for basically everything but all in all it's the major blockchain that currently the alternative financial ecosystems are um really pursuing but then one thing that probably you should never forget is the way it started and is the way that you know it occurred. Bitcoin was a solution to the fallbacks and uh arguably the dishonesty of the current financial systems in the world and it is always kind of a sovereign fight against what's going on in the global economy.

Um we should never forget this because otherwise it will just become another perhaps centralized economy and we don't want it. So, Bitcoin is great, but it also has some limitations, right? Other than the price and actually it has many many limitations. What do I mean is um for example, if you're using Ethereum, you know, it's much more programmable compared to Bitcoin. So, you know, on the right you see the Ethereum's solidity and some implementation uh of some code and then on the left you see um Bitcoin script.

So, Bitcoin script is more like an assembly like language. It's much more um low level and uh the things that you can do are also very limited because the stack size is very limited the operations are very limited the functionality of each op code is also very limited um you cannot do much today on Bitcoin with Bitcoin and even if you try to do then due to the consensus and due to the logic it works um the more usage it gets the more fees bump and then the more the chain becomes was unusable. Um, and even if you try some innovation with it, then it may not end up well and then you know it has its own problems in terms of practicality under load. It has its own problems in terms of scalability and um, actually many people are not are not really aware of it and you know it's something that can be improved should be improved. That's how I believe it.

Um, yep. when this happens, we get really angry and then we just flip the table and say like, you know, I don't like this currency, whatever. Uh but then in the at the end of the day, it's still Bitcoin, right? It's one and only Bitcoin that many people has accepted. Um yeah, maybe we can do some changes to Bitcoin then to make it better.

You know, maybe we can bring some upgrades to make it faster or make it cheaper or make it more scalable, usable by more people. Well, in theory that works well, but then in practice, the problem is Bitcoiners are not really okay with changing Bitcoin. Uh even to explain as an example um the latest change that has happened as a soft fork was over 5 years ago and uh even today there are different fork discussions going on but none of these scaling fork discussions have been reached to a degree that people are comfortable with and everyone keeps proposing whatever the solution they prefer to um and then it comes with its own drawbacks because there's no consensus among Bitcoiners and there's also a gang who doesn't want Bitcoin to change at uh because the price just goes increasing or whatever. Um but still there are people who wants to do more with Bitcoin. Even I as a Bitcoin holder I sometimes want to do more with it.

Um and then I sometimes don't have any solution other than swapping my layer, swapping my Bitcoin into some other assets in the world. Um there are also more people like me. Um, and the solution is moving my Bitcoin into other layers and then trying to utilize it on these other layers. And you know, there's actually a demand for it. Like all these BTC assets on other chains, they're being heavily used.

And uh there's like billions of dollars being stored and this number is probably even more up. Uh this is an older screenshot that I took from a website called bitcoin layers.org. Um I heavily suggest you to visit and give it a shot. say very very very good and clear explanation over what's going on in the ecosystem.

Um and yeah like using other layers works. I mean I can bridge my Bitcoin on Ethereum. I can move it and then I can use it there. That's a great idea. But it comes with its own risks.

What do I mean is um they're not really good enough or they're not really secure enough. So all these billions of dollars when you try to move what you actually do is you give your money into someone else and then they give you some synthetic bitcoin on that asset and it's literally this exchange you try to go to the other layer and then you give your bitcoin and then you know you do whatever you want you transact you gamble you play games I don't know and then at the end when you exit you expect that person to be there but what if the person you gave the money to is not there anymore or what if they just vanish? Um this is a big problem actually and uh you know at the end you may end up with some pool on your hand that is basically useless BTC even at the point that you know they get away with the real Bitcoin and you cannot do anything about it while the bridge is being burned because Bitcoin is a permissionless environment which should be always but I'm just trying to say that you need to be careful on what you're doing with Bitcoin on alternative layers and you need to make sure that your funds is as secure as it can be with the people that you give your money too. Um, that's why we're kind of working on this. We're making an alternative layer called Citra.

It's a roll up on Bitcoin. And then it also has a very secure bridge design that we're working on. Um, and at the end of the day, our goal is you will always be happy and you know there is no in your hands and real Bitcoin is always claim claimable for you uh by these bridge operators or whoever exist. Um and you know like it's been we've been doing this for more than 2 years. It's been a challenging ride to be honest but uh you know it has its own fun parts.

It has its own you know uh rewards itself as well. Um so to elaborate a little bit more on the technical level if you're into um this is currently how Citria works. uh we basically put our data as a blockchain on another blockchain which is Bitcoin in this case and then as long as Bitcoin is sound and secure our data is always available so that people can see what's going on and they can always reach the latest finalized state and uh you know if you're asking what are you doing here well we're an EVM compatible rollup that means anything that you can do on other EVM chains you can also do on Citra that includes you know privacy mixers that includes lending borrowing stuff that includes NFTs whatever but it is a EVM compatible system that you can use today and you know the code that you use also purely solidity so you can just deploy your existing programs over there and you don't need to do any changes at all um so this is really great and um yeah that was the chain and there's also the bridge that we have so our bridge design is basically based on zero proofs it's a trust minimized bitcoin bridge and What I mean by trust minimized is this the verifiers you see you only need one of them to be honest and also we have some operators on the bridge and you also need one of them to be honest. Why is this a good idea? Let me explain a bit more.

So what does all these mean? Trust minimize one of them. So on top is a traditional BTC rapper design and then on the bottom is clementine. So on top you have a three of five multisc that means your money is locked in a locked between five people and then three of them can move anywhere they want and then on the bottom there's clementine and then it has n people managing the money. Well if everything goes right then when you want to enter and exit systems three people give signatures on top and then you can exit or enter whenever you want.

So that's good for Clementine. um when you want to exit you only need one signature and or one one people to be honest and secure so that you can exit the system whenever you want. So this looks okay but what if some bad things happen? What if in the worst scenario what happens? Well let's say on the top if three people gets hacked then they can move the money and this keeps happening actually on alternative systems.

North Korea, for example, keeps hacking systems and then they just hack an honest majority and then they basically steal all the money. So for Clementine, we kind of solve this because to be able to hack the system entirely, you literally need to infiltrate all n entities. And even if you fail to get one entity, still the bridge is functional. Still that one honest entity can use zero knowledge proofs and then can kick the malicious people out of the bridge. So we essentially changed the trust assumptions a lot to the degree that you know it is almost trustless.

You still need one person that's why we call it trust minimize but over the existing systems that we have today where you don't even know the who the custodians are on the top of top scheme. Um this is a really really really great improvement that we have here. Um but yeah like we we we keep building all this stuff right then you know we is does it guarantee us that you know we will u be able to achieve a really great financial system that is um great to use that is cheap to use? Well the answer is no because for a system to succeed you also need some ecosystem some people actively using it and managing it. So we've been live on test net for more than a year and uh so far you know we get our seed round and series A round and then we basically made all the infra ready and we practiced all of it and then we attended multiple acathons talk with all of you try to understand what you need what you don't need what you're afraid of and then try to fix them all of them and then we also started on boarding many and many partners to our test nets to basically make sure that when we launch our mainet which is very soon early next year everything is ready by default and uh no hiccups.

Um and also we got audited as well. Um so the whole protocol is end audited at the moment and it's fully open source that you can also check. But then the core idea is um all of these things that we try to do cannot succeed with the tech alone. So that's why we need your help. That's why we need all our partners' help.

That's why we need every single uh ambitious people that are going along in this industry with us to help us as well. Uh but so far it's been going very good I would say. Um and why are being buzz is perhaps your other question. Um we have two different ideas to present you in the sackaton. Um the first one is a den track.

Normally we go with DeFi tracks but and also we got really good projects as well out of it. But then this time we wanted to switch a bit because um Bitcoin is permissionless money and eventually we also want Citria to become one when we go mainet and you know part of this behavior is being able to do whatever you want and this also involves wives. It's also involves any kind of financial track transaction you prefer and primarily one good use case of these is DJ applications basically like you know um having fun with your money having fun with Bitcoin which is the greatest asset in the world um so that's why we invite you to come up with some DJ crazy ideas just be chaotic be genz you know make the memes anything that you want and then just play around with it and then the second one is um a bit of a more also open track but still it's very useful. Um basically the current Ethereum ecosystem is much more connected compared to uh Bitcoin. So we want to fix this a little bit and one way of fixing it is also having both Bitcoin and C3 integrations with other platforms as well.

Um so if you have any particular idea that integrates Bitcoin well into other ecosystems just uh feel free to use this track and uh apply for it. Um below we listed some ideas and also we also have a um survival guide for you that you can see what exists, what you can use and uh this also has our contact information. Um so you can also find it. Uh these are all available in the prices page of eat global just uh feel free to go there. Um and yeah like it's been a wild journey so far and almost mainet but why are we doing all this like what's the reason behind it is perhaps you're asking well it's mostly behind a belief that we have um particularly a belief that I have is maybe the more extremist one I don't know I like it um I believe that Bitcoin really really really has the potential to you know influence more in Bitcoin against centralized currencies centralized governments who are almost actively trying to hurt you in any aspect of your life when they're not trying to help you.

And um you know there's something called hyper bitcoinization essentially replacing bitcoin as putting bitcoin as the center of finance that we have as of today. And um you know as the time progresses more and more we also started to see more and more movement among these blue and red um waves of this. And at the moment we are at this green circle that you see. Um we're at this point where you know the institutions and banks are starting to get more and more adopted and then at the same time you know the price and you know price becomes less and less volatile and bitcoin becomes more and more practical and this is again like really important to put bitcoin at the center of the world and um I value this because as I mentioned in the very first slides the reason that bitcoin existed was becoming a sovereign money that is capable of surviving without any intervention, without any regulator being bad, without any people trying to destroy it, right? And this is something extremely valuable to the degree that we sometimes take it for granted.

U but we shouldn't and we should always keep fighting for our freedom, keep fighting for our privacy, keep fighting for um our values that we should always possess and uh just don't forget about this. And we're basically trying to achieve this with our layer so that you can utilize your Bitcoin in more flexible ways that you can do without compromising your trust assumptions too much. Um and for this we're also we also have an incubation program called C3A origins. Um it's our incubation program for people that also believe in the mission that we have as of today. And uh we basically provide all the supports in origins to cool founders.

Um, we basically help them with their go to market, we help them with their marketing, we help them with their strategies, we help them with any idea that they have basically and everything is pretty much oneonone. And then you know so far we have this these cool companies that are working together. South signals are actually from ETH global Taipei that we met them there and then we talked and the synergies were very good and now we're working together. Um but all in all like we need these disruptive new applications to achieve a level of um innovation that is helpful for Bitcoin because you know you can always use existing contracts or platforms as well but there should be systems that are also designed for Bitcoin and Bitcoiners and we believe that this is particularly valuable for that. Um yeah please feel free to also visit this website or ask me what they do as well.

Um I don't have much time to go over it unfortunately but yeah and uh we also stack houses regularly with these founders and then do everything on site as well and uh this is some of their appreciations and you know the way they enjoy it and the more the way we enjoy it as well. Um it's really really going fun and it's been a really fun journey all of it. And then you know we're essentially a big family with um similarly ambitiously people fighting for the sovereign money like us and uh we're trying to ship it all together and hopefully already next year it will go mainnet and uh it will really exciting times and I hope that you know you'll be there and also participating for it. Um, but yeah, I guess that's it from me at the moment. Uh, thank you and uh, thanks for joining.

If you have any questions, let's uh, we can talk our side as well.

Yeah. Okay. There's a question.

Thank you very much. Actually working on never nothing at least in my country in Bolivia. What do you think it will be the biggest challenge for us as developers to build up something with Bitcoin? Now we're using

uh you mean to building on Citria and that is easier to to that is hard on Bitcoin and easy on Citria you mean or

I mean easy in all ways actually the most important applications in I mean the most popular in South America Bolivia are defy.

Mhm. everything related with the buy doesn't work.

Yeah, many many D5 primitives that people are using today are actually not on Bitcoin itself because Bitcoin is a little bit too slow, a little bit too expensive to use and a little bit too limited to use. Like it's a very assembly like language that I showed you. Um if you go back like if you try to use Bitcoin it is on the left and then if you try to use Ethereum or Ethereum like systems that are defy on Ethereum it's more on the right and on the right you can do much much much more things than on the left. Actually the way you do DeFi it's not on Bitcoin it's on Ethereum today. So we're trying to change the sale debit.

We're trying to make a layer for you to do the D5 primitives. do anything you want but using Bitcoin because our chain currency is also Bitcoin and it is Bitcoin compatible pretty much. So what we try to do is we try to make you use your Bitcoin, use your sovereign money, not any other currency, uh to do any kind of D5 thing that you want to do lending borrowing with it, to do privacy applications with it, um you know to build money markets with it, um you know to buy even a house with it in you know have better liquidation conditions or whatever. So the core idea again here is making Bitcoin much much more useful without compromising too much. So that's what we are trying to achieve.

It's like uh are you a developer?

Yes. It's like you know building a system using assembly and then building a system using JavaScript. You know you can always do the first one but it is much much much harder and for web for example you know much more impossible. So it's like we're bringing an abstraction a high level that is much easier. That's core idea we have.

Does it make sense?

Solidity. Yeah. And you use Bitcoin. Like if you run the code, it will check for Bitcoin.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yes, we have oracles. Uh we have two oracles at the moment on our chain. Actually, three. Uh one of them is uh one of them is to one of them is block sense and then the other one is redstone and their addresses for push oracles are available in our documentation and also in the it global prices section of citria. So you can see which addresses and which feeds we have for the oracle but yes we have oracles.

Yep. Thank you very much. Yep. Thanks for joining and uh hope you have a great hackathon.