Stacks Layer 2 for Bitcoin already hosts projects, STX token among top gainers

Stacks (STX) is spreading a new narrative, showing that Bitcoin-based tokens are possible. STX lined up among top gainers after showcasing several active projects.

Launching tokens on the Bitcoin network went through several attempts, each one creating its unique form of hype. In 2024, peak projects included the generation of ordinals, BRC-20 tokens, Taproot tokens, and Runes.

Stacks is one of the projects that rose to prominence as a tool to generate and market Bitcoin-based tokens. After a recent market recovery, STX also became one of the top gainers.

STX traded at $2.20 after a few active days of climbing. The token is among peak daily gainers, adding 12% in the past week. The recent rally also happens after trading volumes expanded above $250M in 24 hours.

From the current level, traders are expecting an even bigger breakout. STX has peaked at $3.20, improving its record since the 2021 bull market. The current market conditions, suggesting an altcoin rally in 2024, may help STX break new records.

Stacks lists its most successful projects

Stacks has been a prominent project in the past few months, and it is on track to enter the top 30 of coins and tokens. One of the reasons is its status as a platform, which already hosts a layer of working products.

The Stacks platform has accrued enough projects, and is preparing for a showcase of the most successful products on June 13.

Stacks is currently expanding, with multiple roles in its community. The project is growing its influence both on centralized exchanges and among decentralized hubs. Stacks offers programs for decentralized grants, as well as ad-hoc bounties for tools, research, and other development initiatives.

Stacks hosts nearly 50 apps, combining DeFi, yield protocols, community tools and blockchain-based identities. The goal is to build an ecosystem similar to Ethereum, but using the security of Bitcoin.

On the Stacks ecosystem, tokens are already created, mixing utility with meme assets. For now, there is still limited price discovery and some of the tokens are meant to have a very high supply with low valuations. Stacks is hosting a whole new ecosystem of tokens, though they are not among the first movers in marketing.

Bitcoin-based tokens have traded for a few months now, accruing a market cap of around $2.4B. Runes are also growing in valuation, starting at around $200M and expanding to nearly $1B market capitalization in June. Stacks focuses on BRC-20 assets, which are starting to gain attention and listings.

Stacks grows through decentralized finance apps

Stacks appeared as a potential DeFi hub toward the end of 2022. Most of the project’s development was spent during the bear market, which lasted more than 450 days. In 2024, however, value locked is growing faster, and some of the projects are expanding in a matter of weeks.

Also read: Grayscale says Bitcoin Ordinals are ‘positive’ for BTC in 2 ways

Total value locked on Stacks reached $124.8M, and is expanding once again. Some of the more prominent projects include Stacking DAO, the main liquid staking app. Alex DEX is the leading project, hosting more than $60M in value.

As a whole, DeFi on Stacks is still in the early stages, but the project shows that Bitcoin tokenization is capable of growing similar to Ethereum, L1 or L2 blockchains. Stacks is now preparing to boost the liquidity of its DeFi ecosystem, by inviting its own form of synthetic BTC.

Stacks is working toward another upgrade, which will allow the creation of sBTC after depositing BTC tokens. After that, Stacks expects to grow its value more significantly and expand its DEX volumes.

Stacks is now focused on building up its DeFi side, as value is the best way to bring in more active wallets. StackingDAO is key to that growth, as it holds $100M of STX tokens as collateral. With DeFi growth, price predictions see STX expanding by a factor of 10, to follow the trajectory of similar native platform coins.

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva