Citrea Acquires Crest to Bring Zcash-Style Privacy to Bitcoin

• Citrea acquired Crest, a self-custodial private Bitcoin wallet that began inside its ecosystem, making the product its flagship privacy offering and bringing founder Meliksah Gurtemel onboard.
• Crest plans auto-shielding, private $BTC transfers, cross-chain onboarding and private swaps, aiming to make Bitcoin privacy easier for mainstream users.
• Citrea links the acquisition to privacy work from Chainway Labs, positioning Crest as a gateway for users and liquidity from Bitcoin and privacy-focused ecosystems.

Citrea has acquired Crest, a self-custodial private Bitcoin wallet that began within its ecosystem, bringing the team and product closer together. In its official announcement, the company said Crest will become its flagship privacy product, while founder Meliksah Gurtemel joins as Product Lead. The acquisition turns Bitcoin privacy from an ecosystem experiment into a core Citrea strategy, building on Citrea’s zero-knowledge Bitcoin layer and targeting users seeking stronger confidentiality without giving up self-custody.

Crest Becomes Citrea’s Flagship Bitcoin Privacy Product

Crest was built on Citrea’s Bitcoin-secured execution environment and attracted more than 1,000 people to its waitlist before the acquisition. Citrea argues that Bitcoin’s public ledger exposes balances, counterparties and transaction histories, making privacy important for holders who want fewer permanent financial trails. The company sees private, self-custodial Bitcoin as a major unmet demand rather than a niche feature. That view mirrors concerns around Bitcoin’s onchain transparency, where pseudonymous activity can become traceable through transaction analysis.