The proposed Stacks upgrade targets roughly 3% base BTC yield with a 15% reserve fund, while Stacking DAO's stBTC is designed to keep staked Bitcoin liquid across Stacks DeFi applications.
Stacks is advancing a proposed PoX-5 consensus upgrade that would let Bitcoin holders earn yield without moving BTC off the Bitcoin main chain, while Stacking DAO has unveiled stBTC ahead of the planned Bitcoin Staking launch on Stacks. Under the proposal, users would timelock BTC on Bitcoin Layer 1 and pair it with STX, with protocol bond holders paid first at an initial target yield of about 3% APY and excess miner revenue split so STX-only stakers receive 85% and a reserve fund receives 15%. Stacking DAO said users who stake Bitcoin would receive stBTC, a liquid staking token that can be transferred or used in Stacks DeFi applications such as Zest Protocol and BitFlow without waiting for the underlying BTC to unlock. Stacks said simulations over 210 two-week cycles, or about eight years, project the reserve could build a 1.2-year safety buffer for yield commitments. No formal vote or launch has been finalized, and expected yields remain dependent on network parameters.