Stacks Updates

We’re excited to welcome a new Asia-based Stacks entity: Secret Key Labs. For their first launch, Secret Key Labs will be releasing a mobile STX wallet that enables users to transact STX, sign smart contract transactions from other apps, and participate in delegated stacking. Founded by long-time Blockstack engineer, Ken Liao, Secret Key Labs will focus on mobile and desktop app solutions that enable authentication, transactions, and management of digital assets on Stacks 2.0. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1341422967780036610

Exciting news for the global Stacks community: A Stacks Chapter has launched in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region! Stacks MENA will be led by Mohamed Abdou (CEO & Founder of Pravica) and the Pravica team, all long-time app developers and community leaders within the Stacks ecosystem. Their initial focus will be on expanding education and awareness throughout the region by educating youths, developers, start-ups and enterprises through a variety of activities including partnerships, entrepreneurial events, summits, hackathons, and other activities. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1341410668428161024

JUST IN: Blockstack PBC has officially changed its name to Hiro Systems PBC, marking an important milestone on the Stacks ecosystem’s road to decentralization. Plans to change PBC’s name were originally announced in October, after the Stacks ecosystem branding was released. Since then, PBC’s work on the Stacks 2.0 public infrastructure has been winding down—clearing the way for Hiro to pursue a narrowed focus on providing developer tools for the Stacks blockchain, and more broadly, the user-owned internet on Bitcoin. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1341401526783373321

Union Square Ventures, a top US fund that was an early investor in Twitter, Coinbase, Twilio etc, just published their thesis for Stacks 2.0. It discusses how building smart contracts and apps on Bitcoin can be a model for future growth. USV said that "we are excited to support the launch of Stacks 2.0 through participating in the consensus algorithm." Full post: https://twitter.com/albertwenger/status/1339262016276541445?s=20

Excited to announce that Stacks 2.0 is now feature complete! The first GitHub code commit that started the Rust implementation of Stacks 2.0 was in Nov 2018. Over the last 2 years, just the stacks-blockchain code repo saw 646k additions and 372k deletions over 5K+ commits. It’s an important landmark for our community. Cheers to all the hard work by Hiro PBC and Stacks Foundation engineers and open source contributors. More details: https://twitter.com/muneeb/status/1338897834674941954?s=21

JUST IN: The Stacks 2.0 whitepaper draft has been released! The paper gives an overview of the Stacks 2.0 blockchain design, connection to Bitcoin, and further technical details. This paper can serve as a helpful go-to resource for anyone in the community, as well as a helpful onramp for those first getting oriented with the Stacks ecosystem. https://twitter.com/muneeb/status/1338570059187417090?s=20

On the latest episode of "On the Brink," Muneeb chats with Castle Island Ventures General Partner, Nic Carter about the launch of Stacks 2.0 and its evolution from a securities offering to a freely tradable instrument in the U.S. They also cover Bitcoin-based smart contracts on Stacks 2.0. https://twitter.com/nic__carter/status/1336693063004151811

BREAKING: OKCoin expects to be the first to list STX tokens in the US! In addition to the STX listing, OKCoin plans to support Stacks 2.0 as a launch partner and offer BTC rewards via Stacking once mainnet goes live. OKCoin will play a key role in completing the STX historic compliance journey by giving US-based purchasers secondary-market access to STX for the very first time. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1336659651983597568

JUST IN: Summary of new legal memo details anticipated change of status of Stacks (STX) cryptocurrency to a non-security upon Stacks 2.0 launch. This change would permit STX trading in the U.S. on non-securities crypto exchanges. https://twitter.com/muneeb/status/1335972550560669698

Stacks Pakistan has kicked off the worldwide Stacks Chapters program. We're excited to welcome the team to the ecosystem and look forward to seeing what this chapter builds! https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1334586375627132929

TESTNET UPDATE: We have now entered the final phase of the Stacks 2.0 testnet: Xenon. Instead of using the Bitcoin regtest, Xenon is integrated with the primary BTC testnet. This is a key part of hardening the Stacks 2.0 network ahead of the mainnet launch. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1331686588686995458

JUST IN: Blockstack is partnering with Ankr to support a seamless experience on Stacks 2.0. A leader in developing Web 3.0 infrastructure, Ankr will provide solutions for users to easily run Stacks nodes, as well as for regional exchanges to integrate stacking. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1331313794795048967

The Stacks 2.0 mainnet will reach code completion by Dec 15th and is set to launch on Jan 14th. Upon code completion, the network will undergo thorough testing as well as work on integrations with exchanges and launch partners. The additional time will ensure that the Stacks 2.0 mainnet is high-quality and truly decentralized. To celebrate code completion, the Stacks Foundation will also put up 1 million STX to be won in an upcoming mining competition run by Daemon Technologies. This STX reward will help independent miners kickstart the Stacks network come launch day. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1329442662135509001

JUST IN: Staked will support Stacking and be a Stacks 2.0 launch partner. A leading staking service provider, Staked’s robust infrastructure will make it easy for STX holders (who meet a dynamic minimum requirement) to earn Bitcoin rewards on the Stacks network. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1328699579794153472

The Stacks blockchain now supports Coinbase’s Rosetta standard. Rosetta is an initiative for open-source specifications that make blockchain integrations easy. https://twitter.com/muneeb/status/1326204797041713152?s=20

As we gear up for Stacks 2.0 Mainnet Launch, we are bringing you a community led AMA series to answer all your questions about the upcoming mainnet and how it ties STX and Bitcoin altogether. See the full AMA schedule below and join these telegram groups to participate 👇 → 🇵🇭 November 3 : STX Philippines → 🇰🇷 November 4 : STX Korea → 🇷🇺 November 6: Binance Russia → 🇮🇳 November 6: STX India → 🇹🇷 November 9: Binance Turkey → 🇮🇩 November 12: STX Indonesia → 🌎 November 16: ICO Speak → 🌎 November 17: Binance Youtube → 🇸🇦 November 18: STX Arabia | CryptoZoom → 🇻🇳 November 24: Tradeplus → 🇳🇬 November 26: STX Nigeria → 🇪🇸 December 1: Binance Spain

Q3 saw numerous developments for the Stacks ecosystem, including: Full PoX on testnet, further ecosystem decentralization (with the debut of Freehold and Daemon Technologies), the launch of the Stacks ecosystem brand, and more. Thank you to the Stacks community for yet another amazing quarter! We're looking forward to the world of possibilities brought on by Stacks 2.0 🚀. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1321487268381630465

The STX Mining Challenge has begun and there are already 60 miners on testnet 🙌🏽. Start mining now: https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1321148779987423237

Blockstack PBC is becoming Hiro Systems, an entity committed to developers. As PBC’s work on the Stacks 2.0 public infrastructure winds down, it will shift gears to focus exclusively on building developer tools and apps for the Stacks ecosystem. https://twitter.com/blockstack/status/1319385690237526016

#HackDeFi has officially started! This latest hackathon aims to bring to DeFi to Bitcoin using the power of Stacks 2.0. Developers will be rewarded up to $7,000 in prizes for building safe, secure projects that leverage Stacks 2.0 features like Proof-of-Transfer and Clarity. https://hackdefi.devpost.com/