Bet on Bitcoin: Stacks in 2025 and Beyond
Editorial from the Interim Executive Director of the Stacks Foundation
Hey Stackers, after an action-packed year that saw two major releases and another month of sprinting toward the second sBTC cap, I wanted to offer something of a personal recap and a look ahead at the Stacks ecosystem and foundation. As Interim Executive Director here at the Stacks Foundation, my primary mandate after stepping in last January was to guide our team in supporting the releases of Nakamoto and sBTC. In this piece, I’ll talk about the key ways our team contributed and look ahead at how what the ecosystem did last year might inform 2025 for us and other contributors.
First, I want to take a minute to show my team some love. These 11 incredible people, along with our phenomenal contractors around the world, sacrificed all year to ensure critical work was done, whether it was front and center or behind the scenes. I’ll list the highlights below, but even more than this list of deliverables, I’m thankful for their willingness to adapt, roll with punches, and pivot to whatever contributors and community needed most to get to this point.
For us Stackers, I think it's easy to forget that we’re doing something different and difficult. The road isn’t always straight, and in crypto, it never feels like anything happens quite fast enough. But from my perspective, the work done in 2024 puts Stacks in an exciting position should the ecosystem rise to the opportunity, which I have no doubt about. More on this later :).
First, I want to take a minute to show my team some love. These 11 incredible people, along with our phenomenal contractors around the world, sacrificed all year to ensure critical work was done, whether it was front and center or behind the scenes. I’ll list the highlights below, but even more than this list of deliverables, I’m thankful for their willingness to adapt, roll with punches, and pivot to whatever contributors and community needed most to get to this point.
For us Stackers, I think it's easy to forget that we’re doing something different and difficult. The road isn’t always straight, and in crypto, it never feels like anything happens quite fast enough. But from my perspective, the work done in 2024 puts Stacks in an exciting position should the ecosystem rise to the opportunity, which I have no doubt about. More on this later :).
Highlighted Stacks Foundation Contributions in 2024
Nakamoto introduced a new network operator type in Signers, who are now also critical for sBTC. We needed to be ready when Nakamoto launched with a decentralized Signer set that could support the network, while also ensuring existing Stacking providers made the transition. From just about scratch coming into the year, we built a team and a program around Signers, enabling Stacks to boast the top validator network among Bitcoin layers. We have millions of dollars in Stacks delegated across dozens Signers like Figment, Blockdaemon, Copper, Kiln, Luganodes and many more as they bootstrap their Stacking and/or Signer services and secure the network. Learn more about Signers on stacks.co.
Major hackathons in 2024 with EasyA, a doubling down of our partnership with LearnWeb3, Stacks LatAm hacker house, and a big push in concert with local leads to produce dozens of workshops all supported a successful year in this department, capping off with Stacks being featured as the #7 fastest growing developer ecosystem in Electric Capital’s report. Our Code4STX program has been major supporter as well, having grown every month since June, breaking 1000 total developers in January.
2024 was huge for Stacks partner growth outside Signers too, with our team often playing multiple roles supporting the BD Working Group and then seeing through deals from contract to technical integration. Newcomers to the ecosystem included industry leaders like Asymmetric, DIA, LearnWeb3, Axelar, Fordefi, and more. Last but not least, there's no guarantee that exchanges or other existing partners will make hard fork upgrades, but we were able to support all of ours through these updates for both Nakamoto releases. We’ve built some phenomenal ongoing relationships that are paying dividends for the entire ecosystem! Toward the end of the year, we introduced the ₿est and ₿rightest, highlighting a mixture of new partners as well as existing partners doubling down on sBTC. The list included Ankr, an infrastructure powerhouse, Coinflip, the world's leading Bitcoin ATM network, and Travala, the top crypto-native travel booking website, and more.
Throughout the year, our team ensured the budget and resources were available to core developers as they built toward major releases. Funding for audits, whitehats, Attackathons, and our very own Stacks Residents were deployed to battle-test all aspects of the stack, all layered on top of our ongoing bounty program with Immunefi. We also helped bring on Asymmetric Research as an embedded security partner and supported Bitcoin L2 Labs with the launch of their Orange Hats security program. All of this added up to Nakamoto and sBTC being the most tested releases to date. A huge shout out to the many builders, Clarity Alliance, Bitcoin L2 Labs, and others who stuck with this as we all learned together and added to our security repertoire and processes!
We were ecstatic to see Stacks Asia Foundation and Bitcoin L2 Labs take major steps this year and have contributed funds to both entities as they scale their roles in the ecosystem. We’re honored to be in the trenches with leadership on both teams, offering shortcuts like vetted vendors and key introductions to accelerate their growth wherever possible.
During the year, we continued to fuel important projects and systems via Critical Bounties, offering teams a clear path to contribute. This funding was awarded to teams to build the sBTC Bridge, the sBTC Rewards Program portal, Signer and Stacker Tools by Degen Labs, Stackspulse by Leo, and Stacks Runbooks by txtx. Other notable highlights include Stacking Tracker built by the StackingDAO team on bounty, Signal21’s incredible data portal, and a host of projects supported by the DeGrants program.
Our love for builders never wavers and it remains one of the most fulfilling aspects of the job for many members of our team. Throughout the year, we provided various resources to teams including direct access to MarketAcross, a leading crypto marketing agency to help teams that had big news or launches, recruiting support via Daniel from HireVibes, and dived directly into launch, crisis, and other of-the-moment hurdles or opportunities teams faced. To cap the year, we offered builders a grant to support their sBTC integrations and we continue to make any and all possible intros as builders expand their partnership footprint and start to push growth objectives (as demonstrated quite nicely this year by StackingDAO and others). Last but not least, we remain committed to, while frequently collaborating with the Bitcoin Frontier Fund as they lead the way in supporting our ecosystem’s best teams.
While our marketing contributions remain necessarily scoped to developer growth and support of broader branding work, we were able to use launches to push key narratives for Stacks, including establishing the Bitcoin L2 story in the broader industry going back to October of 2023. Stacks was covered in every major publication for the Nakamoto launch and we supported reports, analysts, funds, and others with data and insights as a record number of pieces covering the project went out in 2024. We maintained our longstanding partnership with Messari, provided the initial fuel for Signal21 as they spun up an incredible data portal for Stacks and other Bitcoin layers, and collaborated heavily with Stacks partners on a long list of press and announcements.
Last but not least, we sourced a series of designers and drove a process early in the year to refresh the Stacks brand to better connect with Bitcoin and make it ready to feature sBTC as a key part of its future. Upgrades were made to stacks.co, including a revamped Stacks Ecosystem hub where you can find (and add) all the partners, tools, apps, wallets, and more. We’re looking for more help to grow the presence of this website in 2025, look out for the Marketing WG if you’d like to be involved.
Last but not least, we sourced a series of designers and drove a process early in the year to refresh the Stacks brand to better connect with Bitcoin and make it ready to feature sBTC as a key part of its future. Upgrades were made to stacks.co, including a revamped Stacks Ecosystem hub where you can find (and add) all the partners, tools, apps, wallets, and more. We’re looking for more help to grow the presence of this website in 2025, look out for the Marketing WG if you’d like to be involved.
One unsung hero of the past year has been major improvements to the process of releasing new versions of the blockchain. Our team, along with Stacks Residents, helped reduce the time to build a new release release version from around 4 hours to 45 minutes. This allowed core developers to move more quickly testing and deploying releases for the rest of the year. Leading up to both major launches our team coordinated with various Core Developers to keep docs up to date and oversaw a migration of the docs to a platform (Gitbook) which makes contributions easier. We hope to see more folks suggesting and submitting docs content as the breadth of the ecosystem continues to grow!
Elsewhere, we’ve been working to empower Bitcoin L2 Labs as they seek to further accelerate Core Development, including the aforementioned funding, as well as support with recruiting new technical talent and training for new hires.
Elsewhere, we’ve been working to empower Bitcoin L2 Labs as they seek to further accelerate Core Development, including the aforementioned funding, as well as support with recruiting new technical talent and training for new hires.
In 2024, we sponsored over 80 well-known events including Token 2049, Consensus, PBW, KBW, bitcoin++, SmartCon, etc., and produced over 200 total, which included large summits such as Bitcoin Builders Conference in Nashville, Bitcoin Unleashed Amsterdam, Building on Bitcoin events IRL globally, large virtual summits, side events, investor dinners, a robust Meetups schedule around Nakamoto, and more. The many relationships built at these events in turn fueled success on the BD trail, we’re grateful for those who participated on every level, from attendee to speaker as well as those who shared in the sponsorship load!
In addition to the aforementioned global Nakamoto Meetup series, we saw the ecosystem rally around a ‘Show us your Nakamojo campaign’ where the community put an 🟧 in their Twitter profile names along with a hit Nakamojo campaign where we distributed 100’s of custom Nakamojo NFT’s to partners, builders, and community members. The campaign was featured on a billboard in Times Square and included a global poster campaign - both with the slogan: ‘Bitcoin is more than you think’. There were also campaigns like the Monopoly-style program called ‘Stacks Streets’ (which saw thousands of users participate) and several quests hosted on Galxe, a marketing platform we onboarded early in the year that all teams can use. In December, we celebrated with the community at the Stackies awards.
Transition ahead: Tech & Traction
While the dust hasn’t quite settled from the late December release of sBTC, contributors are already hard at work continuing to make the network increasingly performant while moving toward increasing the sBTC cap and opening withdrawals. Everywhere you look, there's important and interesting work going on. We’re clearly in a period of exciting transition as we ramp into 2025.
After the year we had, which culminated in the launch of sBTC, it’s natural for there to be a ‘what’s next?’ feeling within the ecosystem. I know I have felt this myself as I consider what’s ahead. We all pushed hard to deliver something massive, and now we’re suddenly in a world where the big focus for so long is behind us, instead of ahead of us. Feeling a little unsettled is probably something to expect, but that doesn’t mean we should rest in it.
All of us should consider what we’re working on and make sure it's been informed by a new top priority: Traction. Our Technology won't take a backseat; with players like Bitcoin L2 Labs ramping up even further, there will only be more investment there. The point is that Traction needs to become a top consideration for all of us as an area to invest and focus on. We’re off to a great start with sBTC filling the first cap, but other areas, such as bringing more liquidity to the ecosystem and user acquisition to applications will be the stars of the 2025 show.
To make sure Stacks is well-positioned for this, I believe it’s important that we, as an ecosystem, drive a few key discussions and deliverables in the short-term. Much of this is underway, but in other places more help and resources are needed:
After the year we had, which culminated in the launch of sBTC, it’s natural for there to be a ‘what’s next?’ feeling within the ecosystem. I know I have felt this myself as I consider what’s ahead. We all pushed hard to deliver something massive, and now we’re suddenly in a world where the big focus for so long is behind us, instead of ahead of us. Feeling a little unsettled is probably something to expect, but that doesn’t mean we should rest in it.
All of us should consider what we’re working on and make sure it's been informed by a new top priority: Traction. Our Technology won't take a backseat; with players like Bitcoin L2 Labs ramping up even further, there will only be more investment there. The point is that Traction needs to become a top consideration for all of us as an area to invest and focus on. We’re off to a great start with sBTC filling the first cap, but other areas, such as bringing more liquidity to the ecosystem and user acquisition to applications will be the stars of the 2025 show.
To make sure Stacks is well-positioned for this, I believe it’s important that we, as an ecosystem, drive a few key discussions and deliverables in the short-term. Much of this is underway, but in other places more help and resources are needed:
- Clarify Stacks’ ‘product’ position in the broader Bitcoin landscape, informed by sBTC
- Update the Stacks roadmap with priorities matched to the product vision. (This process is ongoing, get involved.)
- Articulate and formally document Stacks’ position on key Bitcoin layer topics like unilateral exit, 1/n security models, Taproot asset scaling, restaking, and potentially others as this space evolves. (These things could be noted somehow in the roadmap even if we are not ready to associate timelines with them and the community can continue research and discussion on each in the meantime.)
Market Making, Liquidity, TVL Growth - Stacks would likely benefit from getting more capital in play and employing more sophisticated strategies. Current efforts leveraging our treasury are tightly scoped to remain compliant in the US, but entities abroad can act more freely. In fact, other players have already entered this space for Stacks in the past couple of months, so this is very encouraging and exciting. Markets need to be built up for sBTC and we must maintain momentum growing sBTC TVL across various audiences including institutions, retail, and whales. DeFi TVL is also the leading metric Tier-1 stablecoins use to evaluate timing to enter an ecosystem, so we must focus on Stacks’ native app ecosystem and show off traction there to cement that entry. If this work is of interest to you, check out the Stacks DeFi Working Group, they’ve already started a major push this year around liquidity and frequently collaborate with the folks onboarding BTC holders to sBTC.
Marketing, especially user acquisition and token education. I believe the ecosystem should invest more deeply in marketing now that the core features are live. Below, I’ve listed what I personally have top of mind, but it isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list. Rather than chase hype, I want to see the ecosystem methodically win at onboarding users and developers while also working hard to educate the broader market of crypto traders on STX and sBTC. I hope to see marketing efforts focused on outcomes like growing sBTC TVL (off to a great start!), Stacks TVL, and/or user growth. Via the newly formed Marketing WG, those with thoughts or requests related to marketing should get involved; following the leadership of that group, our team is happy to fund experiments and support key initiatives that do not present any legal issues or conflicts of interest.
sBTC Accessibility & Utility
Marketing, especially user acquisition and token education. I believe the ecosystem should invest more deeply in marketing now that the core features are live. Below, I’ve listed what I personally have top of mind, but it isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list. Rather than chase hype, I want to see the ecosystem methodically win at onboarding users and developers while also working hard to educate the broader market of crypto traders on STX and sBTC. I hope to see marketing efforts focused on outcomes like growing sBTC TVL (off to a great start!), Stacks TVL, and/or user growth. Via the newly formed Marketing WG, those with thoughts or requests related to marketing should get involved; following the leadership of that group, our team is happy to fund experiments and support key initiatives that do not present any legal issues or conflicts of interest.
- User acquisition via apps: It’ll be exciting to see leading teams in the ecosystem ramp up their growth strategies — it’s powerful to be able to onboard users to an experience that provides them a direct, tangible benefit vs. something more vague to them at the Stacks layer itself. As a community, we should support the growth efforts of builders however we can; a good example from last year might be Stacks Streets which created a unified education and onboarding campaign for users to apps via simple gamification.
- Token marketing, including KOLs: This is not historically something the ecosystem has heavily invested in given its unique compliance history. However, the timing is good for that to change given we’ve been given clarity from Hiro about the status of the SEC inquiry. Early indications are that the Stacks Asia Foundation can be a home for this, they even have a related role up related to DeFi that would overlap heavily with token marketing efforts.
- Funds/investors/whales: Last year started a great trend of building deeper relationships with funds and investors. This paid off in the way of Bitcoin layer theses that drove the narrative early in the year and helped to further familiarize and contextualize Stacks for this audience. Led by the Stacks Asia Foundation, this will be further ramped up in 2025, particularly among Asia and UAE-based investors. Our team will continue to support by delivering investor dinners, event activations, and the production and packaging of important data and relevant resources. We will also provide additional funding to the contributors working to educate and onboard large Bitcoin holders to sBTC via the incentive program.
- Developers: At the Stacks Foundation, we plan to continue pushing the programming that helped Stacks achieve its place among the Electric Capital's top 7 fastest growing developer ecosystems last year, doubling down on the hackathon slate, partnerships, educational material, and incentives we provide. More support in these endeavors or contributors starting their own developer acquisition efforts only help! For example, we love Hiro’s recent ‘BuyMeACoffee with sBTC’ tutorial!
- Events: These aren’t going anywhere. We will continue to ensure Stacks is at the hardest-hitting, most important industry events whenever feasible. Top teams are invited to travel (look out for Travala vouchers btw! 👀), host accompanying side events, and speak. We invite others to expand Stacks’ event reach even further by proposing something — historically we have been able to provide significant support and sponsorship when outcomes are aligned and scheduling conflicts are clear.
sBTC Accessibility & Utility
- More applications, growth/maturation of current apps: sBTC is a key enabler, but the proliferation of apps that enable Bitcoin use cases will be what drives adoption. I look forward to the places builders will take sBTC and the experiences they create. On our end, we’ll continue investing in the developer education programs that worked well last year and keep supporting groups like BFF that fuel Stacks founders.
- Listings (and therefore SIP-010) & Integrations galore: Indications are this will happen pretty fast as withdrawals come open, but the BD WG will be monitoring and ensuring it happens and opportunities are taken for new user acquisition plays. We already have Fordefi and Hex Trust to look forward to on the custody front, with plenty more advanced discussions with parties covering the full stack of crypto.
- Bridges: Axelar is launching on Stacks by the end of Q1 with another major name on the way too. Liquidity was already mentioned and bridges can help here, but even more than that, we want further interoperability between Stacks and the rest of crypto so that Stacks builders can reach Bitcoiners more easily.
- Stacks builders have steadily built ahead of Nakamoto and sBTC so they could be primed for this moment. As caps increase and eventually get eliminated, followed closely by withdrawals, the world of Bitcoin capital opens to interesting use cases created by our roster of applications. The world is already getting a small taste of what’s possible via the sBTC Incentive Program, so this will be fun to watch as caps are increased and removed.
- TGEs of note: Another positive ecosystem catalyst will be expected (and hopefully some unexpected too!) TGEs from teams in the ecosystem. The excitement around even a single team that can show exchanges their potential can create momentum for other Stacks teams. Connect with the Stacks Defi WG to learn more about the work going on to support teams with listings in 2025.
Again, the above isn’t an exhaustive list of everything to be done, just key items from my perspective that should likely be considered by contributors as high priority. I invite those who are passionate about the above, have opinions on how to execute, want to see specific efforts get underway, and who are willing to contribute, to start by participating in the ongoing roadmap series which should help to orient the community around the next few months and beyond. With a product vision and roadmap refreshed for the year, we can divide and conquer everything from core development to marketing.
We’re excited for 2025 and the next steps in activating the Bitcoin economy it will bring. Let's bet on Bitcoin, together.
We’re excited for 2025 and the next steps in activating the Bitcoin economy it will bring. Let's bet on Bitcoin, together.
Get started in 2025
It’s traction time, getting involved is a bet on Bitcoin!
- Timely: Hop into various roadmap related discussions, starting with this post.
- Open positions and matchmaking: Check out the ecosystem job board or reach out to recruiting@stacks.org to find out more about work in the ecosystem.
- Join a Working Group: Working Groups are how things get done in the ecosystem. If you'd like to learn more about Working Groups and get involved, leave a comment on this forum post. Working Groups will be refreshed during the ongoing roadmap process as needed, including the addition of any key new groups.
- Start building: Programmable Bitcoin is at your fingertips, try Code4STX and get paid to learn and build. Otherwise, find some great starting points on stacks.co.
- Connect: Join us for a virtual or IRL event, or connect with the community in one of its many official and unofficial groups.
- Lost? As with others before you, I’m happy to help personally! There’s always a path to contributing and I may be able to help you find it.