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New York, New York, August 28th, 2024, Chainwire
The Activation Will Further Stacks’ Functionality and Integration with Bitcoin
The Stacks Foundation announced today that the Nakamoto Activation Sequence has begun, marking a milestone for the Stacks Layer 2 (L2) that’s been years-long in the making. This activation represents a major upgrade, bringing enhanced functionality and integration with Bitcoin.
The Nakamoto upgrade introduces several critical improvements to the Stacks network:
- Increased transaction speeds
- Stronger finality guarantees for transactions
- Reduced Bitcoin miner MEV (Miner Extractable Value) opportunities
- Enhanced network resilience against blockchain reorganizations
Impact on Bitcoin
Layer 2s like Stacks are critical for enhancing the scalability of the Bitcoin network, enabling faster and more cost-effective transactions while expanding the network’s utility. As Bitcoin becomes fully programmable, new use cases will unlock latent capital estimated at around $800 billion.
“Bitcoin is the most exciting place to be building applications right now. Bitcoin L2s are becoming the future,” said Muneeb Ali, Co-Creator of Stacks. “The Stacks Nakamoto upgrade will be a catalyst for builders on other chains to make the jump to Bitcoin and its L2s, with Stacks leading the way. Think of this activation as building Solana-type rails that will help decongest the Bitcoin L1, while allowing the Bitcoin economy to scale on the L2.”
Activation Timeline
Today, the final code for Nakamoto was delivered to network operators, formally opening the activation window. Network operators will have one full Stacking cycle (Cycle 92) to implement the upgrade. Following a successful transition from Cycle 92 to Cycle 93, core developers will select the final hard fork block, at which point all Nakamoto rules will go live.
The Nakamoto activation sequence will follow these key steps:
- August 28: Final code delivery and activation window opening
- Cycle 92: Upgrade period for network operators
- Cycle 93: Core developers select the final hard fork block
- Hard Fork Block: Full implementation of Nakamoto rules
This upgrade positions Stacks to further its role as the leading Bitcoin Layer 2 solution, enabling more advanced smart contracts and decentralized applications while maintaining a strong connection to Bitcoin’s security and value proposition. The Nakamoto Upgrade comes at a time when Bitcoin is poised to evolve from “digital gold” into a thriving economic system for the internet age, unlocking significant capital and facilitating a new wave of Bitcoin-based applications.
The Stacks community is encouraged to stay informed about the activation process and participate in the town hall on August 28, where development leads will provide real-time updates as the activation sequence begins. As the Nakamoto Activation sequence progresses, the Stacks Foundation will be celebrating with daily surprise updates, news, giveaways, and content for the next 21 days.
About Stacks
Stacks is a Bitcoin L2 that enables smart contracts and decentralized applications to use Bitcoin as a secure base layer. The 2024 Nakamoto and sBTC releases will bring faster speeds and transactions backed by 100% Bitcoin finality. Stacks is the current leading Bitcoin L2 by developer traction and market cap and is poised to help unlock Bitcoin and its $500B in passive capital as a fully programmable, productive asset. The Stacks (STX) token, used as gas on the L2, was the first to undergo an SEC-qualified sale in the United States. The project explicitly decentralized with the mainnet launch in 2021. In the Stacks ecosystem, there are currently 30+ contributing entities including a non-profit Stacks Foundation, a developer tooling company Hiro, Xverse, Trust Machines, Mechanism, Bitcoin L2 Labs, ALEX, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, and more.