The April 14th Stacks Town Hall, "How Stacks is Winning in '25", brought together builders, core contributors, and members of the Stacks community for a powerful two-hour livestream exploring what will excite the crypto market about Stacks in 2025, what’s next for the STX ecosystem and why the leading Bitcoin L2 asset, sBTC on Stacks, matters.

As Bitcoin Layer 2’s continue gaining momentum, the Stacks ecosystem is showing what it means to build in public—with key updates across DeFi, developer growth, and protocol innovation. Whether you missed it or want to revisit top moments, here’s a recap of the biggest insights, boldest ideas, and why 2025 is shaping up to be Stacks’ most impactful year yet. You can also watch all talks on Stacks YouTube.

This Stacks roadmap talk highlights major technical improvements to speed, reliability, and developer experience following the Nakamoto upgrade, including a 10x throughput boost and a new Clarity VM in WASM. Adriano and Andre outline plans to grow sBTC into the leading Bitcoin L2 asset by improving trustlessness, UX, and liquidity. Key initiatives include enhanced bridges, stablecoin partnerships, and simplified onramps to attract users and institutions. With over 3,000 BTC already deployed and DeFi activity rising, Stacks is positioned for significant ecosystem growth in 2025.

In this session on the future of sBTC, Andre Serrano and Adriano Di Luzio (Bitcoin L2 Labs), along with Alex Miller (Hiro) reflect on the early momentum and community feedback since sBTC’s launch. Key takeaways include a strong demand to lift deposit caps, enable withdrawals, and reduce user friction—especially around self-custody and fee payments. The team emphasized upcoming improvements like integrating sBTC more natively across the Stacks ecosystem, allowing users to pay fees in sBTC, and improving UX across wallets and explorers. Long-term goals include sBTC becoming the default way to use Bitcoin in DeFi and payments, while maintaining decentralization and seamless onboarding. The vision is a frictionless, widely adopted Bitcoin layer where users may not even realize they’re using Stacks.

One of the most anticipated sessions of the day featured Rena Shah (Trust Machines) and Andre Serrano (Bitcoin L2 Labs), who unpacked the evolving Stacks DeFi Roadmap (Watch at 1:40:40).

“We’re at a point now where native Bitcoin can finally access a full suite of DeFi tools—lending, stablecoins, trading—all on a secure Bitcoin layer,” Rena shared.
Andre added, “Our focus is on creating economic primitives that not only bring capital into the ecosystem, but make Bitcoin work harder for more people.”
The talk highlighted stablecoin innovation, the growth of decentralized trading, and upcoming launches designed to give Bitcoin holders more financial options without compromising self-custody or security.

This virtual panel explored the intersection of AI and Bitcoin DeFi on Stacks, featuring builders Dylan Floyd (Bitflow), Hadan Esperidiao (ALEX Lab), Publius and Jason Schrader (AIBTC), and Jayson Lynn (Trust Machines). Panelists discussed how AI can drastically improve user experience in DeFi through smart contracts, personalized wallets, and voice/text-based interactions that simplify complex actions. They highlighted challenges around secure automation and self-custody, while expressing excitement for future use cases like AI-powered DAOs and autonomous financial agents. The conversation concluded with a shared belief that Bitcoin’s permanence, decentralization, and global neutrality make it the ideal currency for a future driven by AI.

Looking ahead into the future of DeFi on Stacks, the ecosystem is primed to support more advanced financial applications and broaden access to tools that were once out of reach for Bitcoin holders.

“DeFi on Bitcoin is no longer a dream—it’s here. And the next generation of apps will unlock everything from yield-bearing BTC to permissionless lending protocols,” the speaker emphasized.

Nick Sainato, Co-Founder of Gamma.io, unveiled the platform’s major upgrade aimed at unifying the creator and collector experience across Bitcoin L1 and the Stacks L2. The new Explore feature on their beta site introduces powerful discovery tools to help users browse trending collections, OG artists, and real-time trading activity with intuitive filters. Gamma also enables users to link wallets, view collections across chains, and dive into curated Bitcoin art editorials—all in one seamless interface. This update bridges communities and strengthens NFT activity on Bitcoin and Stacks alike.

In this talk, Adam Haun introduced Stacks Ascent, a new builder program designed to support developers at every stage of their journey—from idea to fully funded startup. Following the launch of Nakamoto and sBTC, Stacks now offers a thriving environment for Bitcoin builders. The program features a five-phase path (Trailblazer to Stack Sherpa), offering mentorship, grants, training, and investor connections. Alongside monthly Code for Stacks incentives and ongoing hackathons, Stacks Ascent aims to empower early-stage builders with the tools, community, and support needed to scale impactful Bitcoin projects.

The conversation shifted to the importance of community support. Across the board, speakers credited developers, ecosystem contributors, and early adopters as the real drivers behind Stacks’ progress.

“Everything we’ve achieved is because of the people building and supporting this network every day,” one speaker noted. “This isn’t just about products—it’s about people showing up, shipping code, sharing ideas, and building together.”

Stacks Founder Muneeb Ali closed the event with reflections on where Bitcoin is headed and the role of Stacks in scaling its impact.

“Stacks is here to unlock the full potential of Bitcoin. That means usability, scalability, and financial access—all anchored in Bitcoin’s security and ethos,” Muneeb said.
“We’re not just building apps. We’re building the foundation for the next decade of Bitcoin.”

Want to stay ahead of what’s launching next? Join us for the next Stacks Town Hall on May 19th for even more insights and updates from across the ecosystem.

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Let’s keep winning in 2025—and beyond.