Upbit (Korea) confirmed that their Stacks network upgrade is already complete! 127 Bitcoin blocks to go. What is this upgrade and why is it imp? A rambling post … There have been two major launches in the history of Stacks. The original mainnet launch in 2021 and Nakamoto in 2024. These resulted in peak STX market of $3 billion and $5 billion respectively. Both hit limitations and fell shy of reaching their full potential. The 2021 Stacks was slow and congested (running at Bitcoin speed of 10-40 mins), and the 2024 Nakamoto still relied on a trusted group of signers. $600M of BTC capital was deposited over it but scaling it to $60 billion+ in BTC capital requires removing trust assumptions. The Stacks devs, the Princeton-MIT trained scientists, have been quietly preparing a third shot at goal. So, what is the goal? Stacks has a simple North Star of being the layer/chain with the most Bitcoin deployed. We exist to enable a thriving on-chain Bitcoin economy and be the rails on which billions of people use Bitcoin. This third shot at goal has a name and a timeline. We call it the **Satoshi Upgrades**: a series of three upgrades between now and Bitcoin halving of 2028. It’s our best work yet. Like Elon’s early rockets at SpaceX which came close to getting into orbit but didn’t make it, but then Falcon 1 Flight 4 reached orbit and the rest is history. Stacks is the most under appreciated and misunderstood, highly ambitious moonshot project in the crypto industry. The recent Binance “risk monitoring tag” earns us that honor. We’ve built some of the best tech for a $2T asset, made design decisions optimizing for decades to come, and yet failed on telling our story to the world. For this, I am responsible. I’ve been largely away from X for two years (a) dealing with some family/personal stuff which is almost under control now, (b) giving the space to other leaders and Stacks eco to handle comms in a decentralized way. I’m back now. And I’ve realized that there is no better way to tell a story than the unfiltered version straight from the founder. I will be direct. I will be unfiltered and raw. I will tell you why I’ve spent a decade of my life working on Stacks. And why a modern rails like Stacks is what will make Bitcoin the undisputed freedom money of the world. I will lay out what Bitcoin was meant to be when I joined in 2013. What Satoshi and Bitcoin OGs wanted to accomplish and where we fell short over the years. This third shot at goal is our Falcon 1 Flight 4. We are 18-19 months away from the next Bitcoin halving. 18 months is typically the runway a startup needs to truly take off. We will start with Satoshi Upgrades I, bringing native self-custodial Bitcoin staking to market. BTC on BTC yield. The single largest lever to deploy billions of dollars of BTC into a Stacks product. It’s the top of the funnel. Self-custodial BTC staking is how we start the fire. The story becomes a lot more interesting after. I’ve rambled enough for today. If you’ve been a believer and supporter for so many years. First of all, thank you. Second, we will launch this dream into orbit this time, but I will need your support. Taking Bitcoin and Stacks to billions of people will need your help. You will need to amplify our story. Very few of us currently understand what Satoshi Upgrades are, why do they matter, what is happening in 127 Bitcoin blocks, and why should they care. Let’s celebrate our small wins in the core community for now. Tomorrow the work starts to bring Stacks to the mainstream. We’ll do this together! LFG 🚀

2025 was a great year to raise a fresh treasury for Stacks. With significant treasury runway and lean operations, Stacks eco is fully prepared for the bear market. Not our first rodeo. The next 100x in Bitcoin is in the execution layer, starting with BTC yield. Onwards!

Thoughts on Stacks (blockstack:native) and markets: - The four year cycle stays true. Bitcoin highs are muted but lows also likely muted. - The AI models discovering bugs issue is real. Flight to safety will be a trend to watch. - Bitcoin stayed simple with verifiable and transparent supply. All additional functionality can be built on top. - Stacks optimized for safety and went for a decidable language (Clarity). Safety will end up being *the* thing to optimize for. - There is likely going to be one maybe two Bitcoin L2s that take all/most of the traffic. - After Bitcoin gets a quantum upgrade, depending on new signatures, Bitcoin bandwidth will likely decrease by 50%-97%; highlighting increased need for L2s. - Bitcoin staking is a $100B+ market with increased demand for BTC on BTC yield coming from institutions and DATs. - Stacks has seen two cycles before (1) mainnet launch (BTC smart contracts), (2) Nakamoto launch (speed & sBTC), now we’re working on (3) Bitcoin Protocol Bonds launch that unlocks the largest market yet. - Last year, the ecosystem restructured for operational efficiency plus a new treasury. Stacks Labs is well funded, laser-focused, and hyped up about the new launch. - Stacks is Lindy in crypto & Bitcoin at this point. Largest Bitcoin project by marketcap & active devs for 5 years. When BTC starts to recover, so will STX but as higher beta. - Bitcoin might reach $150K-$250K next cycle (halving is early 2028) which is a 3-4x, Stacks is more in the 20-50x range given higher beta history and upcoming catalyst of Bitcoin Protocol Bonds. (Not financial advice and more on protocol bonds later). - In the chart below, there were only three times in history for lowest entry points. Before mainnet when everything was unproven, before Nakamoto, and now. - The upcoming SIP for protocol bonds launch will likely get accepted, with good feedback from community to drop/adjust the boosted rewards period (I support adjusting/removing this variable.) We’re buying here and then patiently waiting next 6-months for protocol bonds to go live, markets to bottom out, and our thesis of Bitcoin as the king asset with a thriving on-chain BTC economy to play out. Let’s go! 🟧