What is Stacks? Stacks is a Bitcoin-focused smart-contract network that adds decentralized applications, digital assets, and programmable Bitcoin functionality without changing Bitcoin’s base protocol. Its native token, STX, is used for transaction fees, smart-contract activity, network participation, and Stacking.
What is Stacks and how does it work?
Stacks operates as a separate blockchain and execution layer whose transaction history is anchored to Bitcoin. This allows developers to build decentralized finance applications, lending markets, exchanges, NFTs, tokenized assets, and identity tools while using Bitcoin as the settlement and security reference.
The network uses Proof of Transfer, or PoX. Stacks miners commit BTC to compete for the right to produce blocks, while STX holders can lock their tokens through Stacking and receive BTC-denominated rewards. PoX links the economics of Stacks to Bitcoin without requiring miners to perform a separate energy-intensive proof-of-work calculation.
Smart contracts are written in Clarity, a decidable language designed to make contract behavior more predictable and easier to inspect. Clarity is used for fungible tokens, NFTs, DeFi applications, and the contracts supporting sBTC, a decentralized Bitcoin-backed asset designed to bring BTC liquidity into Stacks applications.
The Nakamoto upgrade, activated in 2024, separated regular block production from miner-election timing and strengthened Bitcoin anchoring. Stacks signers validate and co-sign blocks, with approval requiring signers representing at least 70% of the relevant signing weight. Stacks describes the resulting model as providing Bitcoin finality, because reversing finalized history would require a Bitcoin-level reorganization.
Primary uses and applications
Stacks is used to create Bitcoin-oriented financial and Web3 applications. ALEX and Bitflow provide decentralized exchange and liquidity services, while Zest Protocol supports Bitcoin lending and borrowing. Xverse and Leather provide wallet access, and StackingDAO offers liquid-Stacking infrastructure.
sBTC is central to the network’s programmable-Bitcoin strategy. It represents BTC on Stacks at a 1:1 ratio, with deposits held on Bitcoin and corresponding tokens minted on Stacks. A separate signer set manages the bridge, and operations require approval from at least 70% of signer weight. sBTC can be used in trading, lending, collateral, and yield applications.
Who is behind Stacks and where is it based?
Stacks began as Blockstack in 2013. Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea are identified as its principal co-founders, with early technical work also associated with Jude Nelson and other contributors. The project conducted a public STX offering qualified under United States Regulation A in 2019, and Stacks 2.0 mainnet launched in 2021.
The project is supported by several organizations rather than a single operating company. Hiro Systems PBC, formerly Blockstack PBC, is a Delaware public benefit corporation with reported principal offices in New York, United States. The Stacks Open Internet Foundation is a Delaware nonprofit, non-stock corporation formed in April 2020 to support the network and ecosystem.
Hiro is associated with developer tools and infrastructure, while the Stacks Foundation supports grants, governance, education, and ecosystem development. Muneeb Ali remains associated with the broader ecosystem through Trust Machines and a Hiro board role. Current development and business operations also involve Stacks Labs, while the broader workforce is distributed internationally.
STX tokenomics and market data
The CoinStats snapshot recorded STX at $0.3729, with a 24h change of +22.07%. Its market cap was $697.65M (rank #130), and 24h volume was $92.41M.
Circulating supply was 1,870,765,045 STX, equal to the total supply of 1,870,765,045 STX. The all-time high was $3.86, the current price is 90.34% below it.
STX is distributed through market circulation, historical sales, team and investor allocations, ecosystem funds, and protocol emissions. It does not have a permanently fixed maximum supply under the current protocol description. New STX is issued mainly through miner rewards, while emission rules can change through community-approved Stacks Improvement Proposals.
Earlier schedules reduced block rewards over time, but SIP-029 modified the emissions path. This means supply policy is governance-controlled rather than tied to an immutable cap. Stacking does not operate like conventional proof-of-stake staking because rewards are linked to BTC transferred through PoX.
Advantages and development roadmap
Stacks’ main advantage is its direct focus on Bitcoin programmability. It combines Bitcoin anchoring, BTC-denominated participation rewards, a separate smart-contract environment, and Clarity’s security-oriented design. The trade-off is architectural complexity involving Bitcoin settlement, PoX miners, STX Stackers, Nakamoto signers, and separate sBTC signers.
Development during 2025 and 2026 included Clarity 4, activated in November 2025, and the Stacks 3.3.0.0.6 upgrade released in March 2026. The roadmap prioritizes faster execution through Clarity WASM, improved sBTC infrastructure, cross-chain liquidity, institutional custody and settlement tools, and self-custodial Bitcoin staking. Stacks also reported more than 1.6 million users in its Q2 2026 ecosystem update, while its Q1 report cited $545 million in sBTC total value locked.