The brief

Analyst view

• Mainnet launched Jan 27, 2026, with Clementine, a bridge built on BitVM.
• Raised a $14M Series A led by Founders Fund (Oct 2024), its first Bitcoin investment.
• Small so far: ~$12M in DeFi deposits and ctUSD at ~$24M (May–June 2026).

Technical approach

As reported

Rollup

Ethereum-compatible chain on Bitcoin

Apps run on an EVM-equivalent chain with 2-second blocks; batches are proven with zero-knowledge proofs and anchored to Bitcoin.

BitVM

Disputes instead of verification

Bitcoin cannot check a proof directly, so Clementine lets anyone challenge a false claim step by step on Bitcoin, with the cheater's bond slashed.

Light client

Proving which chain is real

Operators must show with a SNARK that their Bitcoin chain has the most work and contains the payout, defeating fake forks.