Muneeb posted something this week that stuck with me.
"Bitcoin is not crypto." I think we’d all agree that Bitcoin is different. But if other crypto chains are outpacing Bitcoin in building real on-chain economies, what are they doing right that we’re missing?
It takes real humility to ask that and even more to build toward the answer. The vision still feels worth it: BTC as true internet money, with privacy, a thriving on-chain economy, and trust-minimized L2s that honor Bitcoin’s ethos. But as Muneeb says, “free markets are the best judge.”
ok bullish bitcoin again
— #mert | helius.dev (#@0xMert_)
7:30 PM • Oct 19, 2025
Speaking of building toward that vision, Stacks had a big week. Here’s what went down.
🍿 Stacks Snacks
The ticker is $STCK 👀 Grayscale’s Stacks Trust is now trading on OTC Markets. This is the first U.S. investment product giving people exposure to STX!
Aspen Digital dropped a report on Bitcoin Capital Markets and how institutions are shifting from holding Bitcoin to using it productively. Here’s a great thread from their researcher, highlighting Stacks as a key player.
Last week, Stacks cracked the top 5 fastest-growing dev ecosystems 😮💨. This week, Adam shared new highs from a Stacks vibe coding hackathon — the momentum’s really starting to show in the numbers.
Heads up to sBTC holders: the current sBTC rewards program is sunsetting on Oct 31, 2025 (hello, Dual Stacking 👋). Expect more updates very soon on how this affects you and what to do next.
😋 Other tasty content
Stacking DAO’s liquid staking tokens (stSTXbtc and stSTX) jumped from 50M to 83M STX in just a few cycles — you love to see it. More people stacking, earning, and helping build the network every cycle.
Lots of chatter on X about Zcash, privacy, and shielded addresses. Muneeb chimes in on how this might be possible on Stacks.
New wallet detail page on Hiro’s Explorer is live and makes it easier than ever to see PoX in action. Thanks for the helpful review, Kai 🧡
Say gm to VoltFi, who received a SIP-31 grant and is now officially building Bitcoin derivatives on Stacks👷♀️
When AWS went down, Stacks stayed up. This week’s outage cost an estimated $75 million per hour, but decentralized infra did its job — staying online even when one company has a bad day.
If you like what the Stacks ecosystem is building, cast your vote for “Layer 2 solution of the year.” It takes less than a minute if you’re on Telegram 🙌
Stacks is a Bitcoin layer for smart contracts. It enables decentralized applications to use Bitcoin as an asset and settle transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. Stacks exists to unlock Bitcoin’s full potential as the largest, most valuable, durable, and decentralized asset. Learn more here.