Bitcoin has become one of the largest digital asset pools globally, but the amount of BTC actively participating in on-chain financial activities remains limited. Stacks is aiming to bring this capital on-chain, making "Bitcoin-native finance" the core focus of its next phase.
Self-custody staking as the entry point
The Stacks approach is to attract BTC holders into the ecosystem by offering self-custodied Bitcoin staking. According to its design, users lock BTC on the Bitcoin mainchain while pairing it with STX worth approximately 5% of their position to qualify for staking. The BTC remains under the user’s full control, with an anticipated annual yield of around 3%, paid out in BTC.
This yield mechanism originates from Stacks' PoX consensus, which has been operational since January 2021. Miners competing to produce blocks must stake BTC, and the associated BTC is distributed to eligible participants. Stacks states that since its launch, this mechanism has distributed over 4,200 BTC in total.
This means its revenue source is not newly minted tokens or interest distributed by lending users' BTC to others, but rather BTC contributed by miners during the block production process.
However, this product is still in testing. Stacks notes that as of July 16, 2026, PoX-5 is still running on a private testnet, with partners testing bonding, reward distribution, and withdrawal processes. Further steps, including a public testnet and governance procedures, are still required, and the mainnet launch has not been finalized.
The 2026 plan is scheduled in three steps
Stacks' roadmap goes beyond merely attracting BTC deposits. Its 2026 plan is divided into three phases: first, attract capital through Bitcoin staking; second, enhance network performance and infrastructure; and third, expand applications to include lending, trading, perpetual markets, and programmable BTC.
In terms of performance, Stacks core developers propose increasing throughput by 100 times, with initiatives including advancing Clarity Wasm. The roadmap also mentions continuing to optimize the core network and enhancing sBTC bridging capabilities.
Stacks also proposes that, following growth in programmable financial activity, the network could support up to 10,000 active AI agents. Meanwhile, the team is exploring allowing sBTC to directly pay for transaction fees, reducing the need for users or automated programs to acquire separate gas assets before using applications.
Ecosystem protocol completes lending and trading
Along this roadmap, multiple protocols within the Stacks ecosystem have begun deploying various financial modules.
- StackingDAO plans to launch a liquid staking token for BTC
- Bitflow supports DEX and liquidity trading.
- Zest Protocol plans to launch a BTC-collateralized stablecoin lending product.
In addition, Hermetica is offering yield and currency products pegged to BTC, including hBTC and USDh. Its hBTC vault deploys BTC exposure to on-chain strategies such as lending, staking, and basis trading, with returns denominated in BTC; USDh is positioned as a bitcoin-backed synthetic USD asset.
These protocols reveal that Stacks aims to do more than just offer a single staking product—it seeks to gradually build out trading, credit, stable assets, and yield tools around BTC. For Stacks, the real test is not in the concept, but in whether it can successfully connect its tested staking entry points, infrastructure upgrades, and ecosystem applications into a sustainable, Bitcoin-native financial system.