Stacks STX: Top 5 Reasons to Watch This Altcoin Gem

This project is up 472% in the last 12 months. With the improving market conditions, many projects are now looking good. Many are in profit esp if you bought within the last 6-12 months.

And one thing is happening now that hasn’t happened in a while, at least 3-4 years since the last time. That’s a focus on Bitcoin again. Bitcoin and all Bitcoin-related projects are benefitting hugely from recent goings on. Do you know which project this is in the charts? It’s Stacks (STX). And today, we give you 5 reasons why we are still bullish on Stacks and think this is only the beginning of their story.

Bitcoin ETF

You knew we couldn’t talk about Bitcoin and its related ecosystems without talking about the Bitcoin ETF. The newest developments from mid-December allowing for cash-in and cash-out redemptions instead of “in kind” will help speed up the approval process. What this means is that BlackRock and whoever else gets approved will not have to redeem Bitcoin for each customer. They will be able to settle that in USD.

There’s good and bad about this decision. But the good is the chances of approval have increased from where we were on December 1st. And simply, more Bitcoin activity means more of it has to move through Layer 2’s like Stacks for transactions.

Will there be a direct link between Stacks and these ETFs? Maybe, but probably not. But as institutions and their customers buy Bitcoin, other retail activity whether it’s p2p trading or Bitcoin DeFi will move to Stacks. It’s just the natural order.

More Layer 1 activity —> More transactions → More Layer 2 activity. Stacks will inevitably do more once the Bitcoin ETF approvals come in.

Undisputed Leader in Bitcoin Layer 2

Stacks is, without a doubt, the undisputed leader of Bitcoin Layer 2s. There will be more activity around Bitcoin even without an ETF. El Salvador was the first but won’t be the last nation to adopt Bitcoin as a form of legal tender. Institutions look like they are coming into Bitcoin. Some are already here. But even if not, nations are coming in and so is more retail.

Especially in emerging market countries and the area known as the Global South. Bitcoin is growing huge there. And as interest in Bitcoin continues to grow, there will be more transactions from more people in more different places than ever.

The Bitcoin blockchain can only absorb so much of this activity. So that’s where the Layer 2’s come in. Some like Stacks have their on-ramps even for fiat money. But all of them alleviate some of the pressure on the Bitcoin chain to handle all these new transactions.

Stacks is already the leader among L2s and that’s no accident. They’ve been way early on this trend. Now they are in a position to take the best advantage of increasing demand for Bitcoin and Bitcoin blockchain space.

Smart Contract Functionality

You may have heard the words “Turing complete” before. And maybe you haven’t. In crypto, it’s used to describe Ethereum, whose system design is Turing complete. There are lots of ongoing arguments from techies about whether it’s smart to have the base layer be Turing complete or not. Ethereum is. Bitcoin is not. But a Turing complete system does have some advantages, especially for open-source computing.

Stacks has it. That’s why Stacks can do smart contracts on Bitcoin but the Bitcoin blockchain itself cannot. Many computer scientists see this as the best combination of features. It brings open possibilities and security together.

Stacks isn’t the only one doing smart contract functionality. RSK better known as Rootstock is too. But Stacks has been doing it longer and has more adoption so far.

Liquid Stacking

In mid-December, Stacks started its liquid stacking program. They can’t call it staking because there is no staking for Bitcoin. You can’t stake something that is Proof of Work and not Proof of Stake. But, here’s the important part, it does let you earn on your Bitcoin.

Earning 6% on your Bitcoin is an amazing return. Then you have the liquid token of stSTX, which already has a market cap of $500 million. That’s a lot of volume floating around looking for ROI. Stacks is a leader in Bitcoin derivative tokens with this and sBTC. More on sBTC in a second.

Stacks could easily become the Lido of Bitcoin. The liquid staking layer.

sBTC

Stacks sBTC is a new version of wrapped Bitcoin. But it’s wrapped and managed in a completely different way from wBTC. wBTC is wrapped and managed by a custodian, BitGo. But sBTC, while created by Stacks, is decentralized. Both are 1 to 1 versions of Bitcoin for other use. But sBTC uses a 2-way peg.

Rootstock and Liquid already use 2-way pegs. And so does wBTC. But not decentralized due to its use of custodians. Stacks Proof of Transfer (PoX) allows for a decentralized peg mechanism. This is vital for developers who want to build apps without relying on custodians and their performance and behavior.

This great 2-way tweet series goes into more detail about how this works to secure sBTC. But one thing you can be sure of is this. A decentralized derivative of Bitcoin will be more popular not only with Bitcoin users but with ALL users. Devs can build apps and Traders and other users can use sBTC with confidence. Confidence that there won’t be things like account freezes or other restrictions keeping you from using your coins how you want.

Disclaimer
The information discussed by Altcoin Buzz is not financial advice. This is for educational, entertainment, and informational purposes only. Any information or strategies are thoughts and opinions relevant to the accepted levels of risk tolerance of the writer/reviewers and their risk tolerance may be different than yours. We are not responsible for any losses that you may incur as a result of any investments directly or indirectly related to the information provided. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments so please do your due diligence. Copyright Altcoin Buzz Pte Ltd.

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