Stacks, the main Layer 2 community for scaling Bitcoin, has hit a serious milestone with sBTC, its non-custodial implementation of tokenized Bitcoin. It’s hit the second deposit cap of 3,000 BTC, a goal that was totally subscribed shortly after opening on February 25.
This follows the preliminary 1,000 BTC cap, met inside 48 hours of sBTC’s mainnet launch in December, and indicators a surge in curiosity from each particular person and institutional gamers. The speedy uptake factors to rising confidence in Bitcoin’s potential for decentralized finance on Stacks, the place DeFi protocols are actively growing every kind of use instances for sBTC.
The Individuals Need sBTC
sBTC is designed to serve as a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed token that requires no custody in minting or bridging not like incumbent tokenized Bitcoin options. It permits customers to maneuver BTC onto Stacks’ Layer 2 community to be used on DeFi protocols, such as lending through Zest Protocol or buying and selling on DEXs like Bitflow and ALEX.
Versus wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) or Coinbase’s cbBTC, which depend on centralized custodians, sBTC employs a trust-minimized two-way peg system secured by a decentralized community of signers, requiring 70% consensus for transactions. Contributors holding sBTC earn as much as 5% APY in Bitcoin rewards, with extra yield obtainable by way of DeFi integrations. Complete tokenized BTC now accounts for 1.67% of Bitcoin’s circulating provide, the very best since October 2022, pushed by demand for programmable belongings.
The cap elevate from 1,000 to 3,000 BTC, tripling capability, attests to Bitcoin’s shifting function past a static retailer of worth. Early sBTC adopters embrace main companies like UTXO Administration, Bounce Crypto, and SNZ, alongside CMS Holdings, RootstockLabs, Sypher Capital, and Uneven Analysis. Zest Protocol alone holds almost 40% of sBTC in circulation, highlighting its traction in lending purposes.
sBTC Cap-2 is open: max 3,000 BTC
Begin incomes as much as 5% APY in actual Bitcoin rewards simply by holding sBTC.
1. Get your sBTC: https://t.co/Ah3jc0HGdY
2. Register for the rewards program: https://t.co/R39nRQ6h9xGet your palms on Stacks’ L2 BTC earlier than the cap fills up. pic.twitter.com/B0iFutFGGk
— stacks.btc (@Stacks) February 25, 2025
In accordance with Hiro CEO Alex Miller, “We’ve already seen builders utilizing our developer instruments undertake sBTC to ship options like native bitcoin yield technology…I predict that subsequent we’ll see extra innovation of those use instances, as effectively as new concepts by way of AI brokers and extra.”
Stacks Co-Founder Muneeb Ali added: “I’m excited to see individuals with their financial savings in bitcoin, their yield earned in bitcoin, and every thing denominated in bitcoin. sBTC unlocks that full potential, and this second wave of sBTC depositors displays the demand for Bitcoin to scale. The way forward for Bitcoin can be abstracting the L1 and L2s, like Stacks, to make bitcoin productiveness seamless.”
Bitcoin Layers Stack Up
Bitcoin’s Layer 2 panorama is now thriving, with Stacks the main L2 intent on unlocking Bitcoin’s idle capital and anchoring DeFi to its unequalled safety mannequin. Regardless of the sturdy demand for sBTC since launching late final 12 months, the actual demand will come as soon as the coaching wheels are taken off and Stacks begins accepting uncapped deposits.
sBTC withdrawals from Stacks are slated for March, pending additional decentralization of its signer community, which has been initially set at 15 community-elected entities. For bitcoiners, the attraction of with the ability to bridge their BTC to Stacks and start incomes 5% APY is clear – notably given the prospect of additional amplifying yield by way of different DeFi providers such as liquidity provision or staking.
It’s taken time for a totally decentralized BTC to be developed that may work on Layer 2 similar to native Bitcoin. Now that it’s right here, the probabilities for creating yield-generating merchandise are limitless.
