Stacks said its Q2 report showed user growth, institutional partnerships and ecosystem expansion as PoX-5 moves through audit ahead of a planned Q3 Bitcoin Staking mainnet launch.
Stacks said its Q2 2026 ecosystem report showed continued progress toward Bitcoin Staking, with PoX-5 built and deployed to both private and public testnets and now undergoing audit ahead of a planned Q3 mainnet launch. The network said cumulative users topped 1.6 million in the quarter, up 8.0% from Q1, while new wallet creation climbed nearly 53% to 110,000 from 72,000. The report adds new detail to Stacks’ institutional push. Fireblocks joined as custody infrastructure partner, and UTXO Management, the Bitcoin-native asset management subsidiary of Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA), became the inaugural Bitcoin Staking launch partner. The company previously said PoX-5 would support Bitcoin staking through a timelock-based design and had targeted mainnet activation around Bitcoin block 907,740, with a bootstrap phase capped at 3,000 BTC and an expected yield of about 3% APY paid in BTC. Activity across the broader ecosystem also expanded. Zest Protocol said its ZEST token launched via Binance Alpha on May 19 and reached a $200 million fully diluted valuation within hours; the protocol remained the largest DeFi application on Stacks with $70 million in TVL and more than 800 sBTC deposited. Stacking DAO reached 110 million STX in TVL and said stBTC, described as the first Bitcoin liquid staking token on Stacks, is in audit with an August launch target. BitFlow surpassed $5 billion in cumulative transaction volume and $575 million in swap volume, while Hermetica reported 75 BTC in hBTC TVL and said USDh averaged 8% APY during the quarter. The report also said Stacks delivered three stable mainnet node releases, continued security hardening through Immunefi, and expanded the Stacks Endowment’s grants and Foundry programs. Q3 priorities include launching Bitcoin Staking, broadening the liquid staking ecosystem, adding more institutional participants and backing founders building Bitcoin-native financial applications.