New York, New York, United States, July 8, 2026, Chainwire
DAO stack Today it announced stBTC, a liquid version of Bitcoin designed for the upcoming Bitcoin Scking release from Stacks. stBTC will allow Bitcoin holders to earn yield through staking while keeping their capital liquid and ready to move across the rest of the Stacks ecosystem.
Bitcoin is the largest pool of capital in the digital economy, most of which remains idle. Only a small portion of the Bitcoin supply is deployed in cross-chain finance today, while the rest remains parked in custodians, exchange-traded funds, and treasuries. The DAO staking built stBTC to fill this gap and give Bitcoin holders a native path to putting their capital to work.
stBTC is the missing bridge between getting Bitcoin return and putting your Bitcoin capital to work. The cardholder will be able to stake Bitcoin and participate in Bitcoin native funding at the same time, rather than choosing between the two.
“Bitcoin has never had a real economy of its own, and stBTC for Bitcoin Stacks is our answer to that gap,” he said. Taiko Unash, a core shareholder at Stacking DAO. “Holders can earn a return from Bitcoin while keeping their capital liquid, and they receive an asset that they can continue to use across stacks for additional returns.”
stBTC represents the BTC pegged to Stacks’ Bitcoin Scking system, earning a base return that is expected to start at around 3% according to the protocol’s initial parameters. The underlying Bitcoin remains locked in bonds, fully collateralized by Bitcoin, while stBTC itself remains liquid and transferable.
This fluidity is the point. The holder can participate and stop there, receiving the principal return on the Bitcoin he or she still holds. From this floor, stBTC can flow to financial applications already on Stacks, including lending platforms such as Enthusiasm protocol And trading baths such as PetFlowwith the underlying yield continuing to accrue below it. The capital already deployed across Stacks stands at $121 million, led by Zest Protocol, Graniteand DAO stack, according to DeFiLlama. stBTC gives this stack a new entry point for new Bitcoin capital.
stBTC is also native Bitcoin by design. The Stacks network settles activity on Bitcoin through proof of transfer, backed by 100% of Bitcoin’s hash power, and reads the state of Bitcoin directly without the need for an oracle or trusted relay. This differs from previous attempts to bring Bitcoin into DeFi by wrapping it on other chains and routing it through central custodians. stBTC maintains the decentralization, settlement and security of Bitcoin itself.
The return model is designed to outlast its bootstrapping phase. Economic activity via Stacks, powered by STX, generates fees that fund miners’ rewards. Miners spend Bitcoin to win these fees and secure the network, and the Bitcoin flows back into the stakeholder pool, where the underlying return is generated. As more capital moves through the ecosystem, the return shifts from relying on emissions to working on real economic activity.
The DAO staking is well positioned to bring stBTC to the market. The team has been running the STX Stacking infrastructure for over two years, managing over $150 million in accumulated capital for over 40,000 stakeholders without a security incident. This track record is what makes the Stacking DAO team the team building the liquid storage layer for Bitcoin on Stacks now.
It is expected that stBTC will be launched before the Bitcoin Stake of Stacks. Bitcoin holders will be able to stake BTC, acquire stBTC, and start earning yield directly through Stacking DAO on stacking.com.
About DAO stack
Stacking DAO is the infrastructure powerhouse of STX Stacking for Bitcoin L2 luminaries. Users can learn more at stacking.com
About stacks
Stacks are the leading Bitcoin layer deployed by BTC, providing the infrastructure for a growing range of Bitcoin native applications. The network enables Bitcoin-native financial applications, from lending and borrowing to autonomous AI agents, all settled with Bitcoin finality. Users can learn more at stacks.co
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Shannon Voight
Stacks Laboratories
Click @stackslabs.com
This article is not intended to provide financial advice. Educational purposes only.
