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Stacks

STX · Field entry
Scaling / Layer 2Smart contracts

Token of Stacks, a smart-contract layer that settles to Bitcoin

$0.39304.30%Snapshot · October 4, 2026 · updates live
Market cap
$735.81M
24h volume
$39.48M
Rank
#94
Circulating
1.87B STX
Max supply
No fixed cap
All-time high
$3.86 April 1, 2024

STX price chart

7-day snapshot. Chart data from CoinGecko.

What is Stacks?

Stacks is a blockchain that adds smart contracts and apps to Bitcoin. Its blocks are anchored to Bitcoin, and its sBTC token lets people use bitcoin inside Stacks apps. STX pays transaction fees on Stacks and can be locked in a process called Stacking that pays holders rewards in BTC.

Utility Lens

What Stacks actually does

Brings programmable apps such as lending and trading to bitcoin holders; STX pays fees and is locked to help secure the chain.

Real-world usage
growingBitcoin-focused DeFi on Stacks has grown since sBTC launched, though overall activity is modest compared with major smart-contract chains.
Token necessity
essentialSTX is required to pay transaction fees and to take part in Stacking, which secures block production.
Decentralization
moderateStacking and mining are open to anyone, but the sBTC peg relies on a 15-member signer set and core development is concentrated in a few organizations.
Track record
provenStacks 2.0 mainnet launched in January 2021 and the Nakamoto upgrade came in late 2024; it had a multi-hour outage in January 2025.

How we rate

What it’s used for

Users move BTC into Stacks as sBTC to use it in lending, trading and yield apps, then move it back to Bitcoin. STX holders lock their tokens through Stacking, either directly or through pools, to earn BTC rewards. Developers write contracts in Clarity, Stacks' own programming language.

Role of the STX token:

gasstaking security

Evidence of real use

  • sBTC is a Stacks token pegged 1:1 to BTC, with deposits and withdrawals managed by a set of 15 community-chosen signers. Source
  • sBTC withdrawals back to Bitcoin went live on mainnet around April 30, 2025, after deposits opened in December 2024. Source
  • In July 2019 the SEC qualified Blockstack's Regulation A+ offering of Stacks tokens, the first token offering qualified under that rule. Source
  • Stacks stopped producing blocks for more than four hours on January 6, 2025, an outage linked to a signer issue less than three months after the Nakamoto upgrade. Source

How Stacks works

Stacks uses a consensus method called Proof of Transfer. Miners who want to produce Stacks blocks spend BTC, and that BTC goes to STX holders who have locked their tokens through Stacking. Miners earn newly issued STX plus fees. Since the Nakamoto upgrade in late 2024, Stacks blocks arrive every few seconds and are confirmed by signers drawn from Stackers. Once a Stacks block is anchored in a Bitcoin block, reversing it would require reorganizing Bitcoin itself.

sBTC is how bitcoin moves into Stacks. You send BTC to a wallet controlled by sBTC signers, and the same amount of sBTC is created on Stacks; to leave, you burn sBTC and the signers release BTC. The signer group, currently 15 members selected by the community, must cooperate to approve withdrawals, so sBTC depends on a threshold of those signers acting honestly and staying online.

STX pays for transactions and smart-contract calls on Stacks. Stacking locks STX for set cycles in exchange for BTC rewards, and newer options such as Dual Stacking let users lock both STX and BTC. Stacks traces back to Blockstack, whose 2019 token sale was the first qualified by the SEC under Regulation A+, and the network is now supported by the Stacks Foundation and several independent companies.

Key moments

  1. 2019The SEC qualifies Blockstack's Regulation A+ offering of Stacks tokens in July.
  2. 2021Stacks 2.0 mainnet launches with Proof of Transfer and Stacking.
  3. 2024The Nakamoto upgrade brings fast blocks and Bitcoin finality; sBTC deposits open in December.
  4. 2025A multi-hour block production outage hits in January; sBTC withdrawals go live around April 30.
  5. 2025Dual Stacking launches as a pilot for locking STX and BTC together.

Supply

STX has an open-ended issuance schedule: new STX is paid to miners with each block, and the reward rate falls over time on a schedule loosely tied to Bitcoin's halvings. Early estimates put total supply at about 1.818 billion STX by 2050, but the Stacks Foundation notes there is no hard cap. Transaction fees are paid to miners rather than burned.

Risks to understand

  • sBTC trust: the BTC behind sBTC is controlled by a limited signer set, so a signer failure or collusion could freeze or endanger funds.
  • Liveness: Stacks has had block production outages, including one in January 2025.
  • Stacking lockups: STX locked for Stacking cannot be moved until the cycle ends.
  • Inflation: ongoing STX issuance with no hard cap adds supply over time.
  • Adoption risk: Bitcoin-focused DeFi is competitive and still small compared with Ethereum or Solana.

Stacks FAQ

Is Stacks part of Bitcoin?

No. Stacks is a separate blockchain that anchors its blocks to Bitcoin and uses BTC in its consensus. Bitcoin itself does not change to support it.

What is Stacking?

Stacking means locking STX for a period to help the network and earn BTC rewards paid by miners. Your STX cannot be moved while it is locked.

Is sBTC the same as BTC?

sBTC is designed to be redeemable 1:1 for BTC, but it depends on the Stacks signers to process deposits and withdrawals, which adds risk compared with holding BTC directly.

Sources

  1. sBTC — Stacks
  2. What Is STX? Understanding the Token Behind the Stacks Network — Stacks
  3. Understanding STX Token Supply — Stacks Foundation
  4. SEC Qualifies First Token Offerings Under Regulation A — Cooley
  5. sBTC Withdrawals Now Live on Bitcoin Mainnet via Stacks — The Defiant
  6. Bitcoin L2 Stacks faces outage halting transactions — CryptoSlate

Last reviewed October 4, 2026 by The Crypto Guide editorial team. Utility Lens ratings are editorial judgments, not investment advice. Market data from CoinGecko. Spot an error? Request a correction.