Stacks mainnet launch brings smart contracts and DeFi to Bitcoin
Stacks, formerly Blockstack, celebrated the launch of Stacks 2.0, a bridging toolkit that allows developers to build on Bitcoin. Stacks has an ambitious vision to bring smart contracts and DeFi to the Bitcoin (BTC) network.
From an industry perspective, the launch of Stacks 2.0 is significant for several reasons. On one hand, it expands Bitcoin’s scripting language, allowing developers to build smart contracts and other innovative tools on top of the blockchain. By bringing more use cases to Bitcoin, Stacks 2.0 could potentially dilute the value proposition of competing chains. This could secure Bitcoin’s already dominant position as the world’s largest blockchain and cryptocurrency.
The Stacks 2.0 unveil follows many months of testing and audits centered around Proof-of-Transfer, or PoX, the protocol’s new consensus mechanism. As a novel mining system, PoX utilizes the Proof of Work consensus to create new blockchains that are rooted in Bitcoin’s security.
Ali says PoX “has the potential to enable an economy around Bitcoin and actually secure the future of the internet on Bitcoin’s blockchain.”
Stacks 2.0 attempts to bring Bitcoin full circle. As the flagship cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has secured a market cap of nearly $700 billion based almost entirely on its store-of-value characteristics. Along the way, countless projects have launched to fill the perceived void left by Bitcoin — namely, smart contracts, decentralized applications and, more recently, DeFi.
Although Bitcoin has carved out a strong narrative as digital gold, the Stacks 2.0 vision attempts to bring more utility to the original cryptocurrency, which could broaden its use case beyond just a store of value.