Overview
Stacks brings smart contracts and apps to Bitcoin. It grew out of Blockstack, founded by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea in 2013, and its STX token was the first to be qualified by the US SEC under a regulated offering (Reg A+) in 2019.
Bitcoin itself can’t run complex apps. Stacks runs them on its own layer, which records its history on the Bitcoin blockchain.
How it works
- Proof of Transfer (PoX): miners spend BTC to mine Stacks blocks, and STX holders who stack (lock) their STX earn that BTC as rewards.
- Nakamoto upgrade (October 2024): blocks now arrive every few seconds instead of every ten minutes, with finality tied to Bitcoin.
- sBTC (December 2024): a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed token that lets bitcoin be used in Stacks DeFi apps for lending, trading and yield.
- PoX-5 Bitcoin staking: a planned upgrade letting BTC and STX holders stake together, with Nakamoto Inc.’s UTXO Management as a launch partner and Fireblocks as custodian; it was in audit in mid-2026.
Stacks reported about 1.6 million cumulative users by mid-2026.
The STX token
| STX at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Supply (Oct 2026) | about 1.88 billion STX |
| Maximum supply | none (slow, decreasing issuance) |
| Price (29 Oct 2026) | about $0.30 |
| All-time high | about $3.86 (April 2024) |
| Market cap | about $560 million (#101) |
Risks
- Small DeFi. Stacks DeFi holds only about $60 million (DeFiLlama).
- Bitcoin culture. Many Bitcoin holders are skeptical of DeFi on Bitcoin.
- Competition. Other Bitcoin layers and wrapped-bitcoin products compete for the same users.
- Execution. Major upgrades have often taken longer than planned.
Stacks vs. the competition
| Stacks | Lightning | Starknet (strkBTC) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Smart contracts for Bitcoin | Fast bitcoin payments | Bitcoin DeFi on Ethereum L2 |
| Token | STX | None | STRK |
| Rewards in BTC | Yes (stacking) | Routing fees | No |
Our verdict
Stacks is the most established way to build apps on Bitcoin, and sBTC and Bitcoin staking give it a clear role. But Bitcoin DeFi is still small and STX has fallen far from its high. STX is a high-risk bet on Bitcoin becoming programmable. Invest only what you can afford to lose.
This review is for information only and is not financial advice.