Stacks

sBTC

United

Zest Protocol

New York, NY, United States, July 23rd, 2026, Chainwire Q2 Ecosystem Report highlights institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth, and infrastructure milestones ahead of Bitcoin Staking's Q3 launch.Stacks (STX) today published its <a href="https://www.stacks.co/blog/q2-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Q2 2026 Ecosystem Report</a>, outlining progress toward launching Bitcoin Staking and expanding the infrastructure needed to make Bitcoin a productive capital asset. Cumulative Stacks users surpassed 1.6 million during the quarter, an 8.0% increase quarter over quarter, while new wallet creation rose nearly 53%, from 72,000 in Q1 to 110,000 in Q2.The report highlights a quarter of steady execution. Stacks built and deployed PoX-5, the on-chain mechanism powering Bitcoin Staking, first to a private testnet for institutional partners and later to public testnet, where it is now undergoing audit ahead of mainnet launch. The quarter also marked two major institutional partnerships. Fireblocks, which facilitates the transfer and storage of more than $10 trillion in digital assets globally, joined as the institutional custody infrastructure partner, while UTXO Management - the Bitcoin-native asset management subsidiary of Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA) - became the inaugural Bitcoin Staking launch partner. Alongside this, the Bitcoin-native finance ecosystem continued to grow, and the Endowment expanded its grant and Foundry programs to support new builders.<blockquote> "Bitcoin has spent years establishing itself as an asset. The next chapter is making that asset productive, and Stacks made strong progress on that front in Q2 2026," said Alex Miller, CEO of Stacks Labs. "Our thesis is clear: Stacks is the place where Bitcoin becomes productive capital. The quarter ahead is an important one for the broader Stacks ecosystem, and we are determined to capture a larger share of the Bitcoin sitting idle today."&nbsp;
</blockquote>Among the report's highlights:<ul><li>Bitcoin Staking advanced toward launch, with PoX-5 built, deployed to private and public testnet, and now in audit ahead of mainnet in Q3.</li><li>Fireblocks and UTXO Management joined as institutional partners, expanding the custody and asset-management infrastructure required for institutional participation.</li><li>Zest Protocol had its biggest quarter to date: the ZEST token launched via Binance Alpha on May 19, reaching a $200 million fully diluted valuation (FDV) within hours while ranking No. 1 trending on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap. Zest remains the top DeFi protocol on Stacks, with $70M in TVL and over 800 sBTC deposited.</li><li>Stacking DAO reached an all-time high of 110M STX in TVL and announced stBTC, the first Bitcoin liquid staking token on Stacks, now in audit and targeting an August launch.</li><li>BitFlow surpassed $5 billion in cumulative transaction volume and $575M in swap volume, grew to 29,677 cumulative users, and delivered an estimated average 17.9% Bitcoin APY across its two primary sBTC pools over the past 30 days.</li><li>Hermetica saw continued allocator demand for BTC yield, with hBTC reaching 75 BTC in TVL and its latest capped allocation filling within 24 hours, while USDh averaged 8% APY over the quarter as Hermetica advanced its STRC integration.</li><li>Network and protocol development continued, with three stable mainnet node releases and ongoing security hardening through the Immunefi bug bounty program.</li><li>The Stacks Endowment expanded strategic ecosystem investment through grants and the Foundry program, completing its first Validate cohort (60 participating teams, 25 advancing toward grant applications) and preparing the next program, Onboard.</li></ul>The report also outlines Stacks' priorities for Q3, including the launch of Bitcoin Staking, expansion of the liquid staking ecosystem through stBTC, onboarding additional institutional participants, and continued investment in founders building Bitcoin-native financial applications.Read the full <a href="https://www.stacks.co/blog/q2-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Q2 2026 Stacks Ecosystem Report</a>.About StacksStacks is growing Bitcoin by turning idle Bitcoin into productive capital. The network enables self-custodial Bitcoin yield and a growing ecosystem of Bitcoin-native financial applications that settle on Bitcoin. Learn more at <a href="https://stacks.co" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stacks.co</a>. <h5>Contact</h5>Shannon Voight Stacks Labs press@stackslabs.com Disclaimer. This is a paid press release. CoinMarketCap does not recommend that any cryptocurrency (bitcoin, ethereum, custom asset) should be bought, sold or held. Do conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

STX Q2 Report: Stacks Surpasses 1.6 Million Wallets as Bitcoin Staking Enters Public Testnet Ahead of Q3 Launch (23 Jul)

Chainwire

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