It's that time again, we’re introducing the Stacks Foundation objectives for Q2 2023. Don't miss Q1's recap while you're at it!

The quick version: sBTC, sBTC, sBTC. :)

• Resourcing and alignment on sBTC will continue to be a major focus of this quarter's OKRs, along with research related to Nakamoto. In addition, we'll support core developer onboarding throughout the ecosystem and improve the testing and security practices of the network.
• Realigning messaging around Stacks as a Bitcoin Layer will be a continued focus as the Stacks Foundation supports brand explorations related to sBTC and Stacks and keeps up key properties such as CMC and others. This lays the groundwork for a smooth and well-received sBTC launch.
• Developer education and experience will also be crucial components of upcoming objectives and be fed by a robust event, Meetup, and hackathon slate powered by Community Leaders. These developers will be critical in providing feedback on sBTC releases and driving initial traction.

Read about each high-level OKR below, or read to the full table of detailed OKRs and projects.

Last quarter's themes, Stacks Blockchain Security and Increasing Blockchain Development Velocity/Capacity, will be carried forward. There are some key network issues to be resolved, such as the Bitcoin MEV work, which our team is taking the lead on and some work to do in terms of how the decentralized ecosystem (which has seen a sharp rise in core developers and contributors) best ensures smooth testing and rollouts. A number of improvements around communication were made, including the @StacksStatus twitter and status page, but there is still room to catch the collective processes up with both the size of the contributor base and size of the codebase(s).

In parallel, we're continuing our successful efforts to help the ecosystem staff up on the core developer front. We are closing in on a target of 20 core devs across entities and placed our own security lead as well. We've provided initial funding to BitcoinL2 Labs, a core development focused entity that has begun hiring.

Last but not least, we've identified and onboarded legal firms to ensure sBTC takes the latest regulatory environment into account. We have also engaged a tokenomics firm to advise on various solutions and improvements proposed for the network and will share this data freely so the community will be well-informed if any of these proposals reach a SIP. Both these workstreams will be a focus in Q2 and likely into Q3.

With Ordinals catalyzing a renewed sense of innovation in the Bitcoin world, we are eager to support new would-be Bitcoin builders. We'll be partnering or supporting workshops. Meetups, and hackathons that are welcoming to new Bitcoin builders and creators. This will be in addition to our robust events schedule that is serving the Stacks Ecosystem.

Every new community members we can educate and onboard now is one that will potentially create a breakout application using sBTC later. We’re in the process of updating and tweaking our successful educational programs to welcome these types of Bitcoin builder personas.