Stacks - Everything you need to know about STX Token

Bitcoin has long been the most popular cryptocurrency with the highest adoption rate. However, it has limited scalability. Stacks - a layer 1 blockchain, allowing the use of smart contracts and dApps indirectly on Bitcoin’s network, has solved the Bitcoin Network’s scalability issue and unlocked the potential of its huge capital. 

In this article, let’s find out how Stacks can do this incredible thing and the potential of its own blockchain ecosystem.

What is Stacks?

Stacks is a layer-1 blockchain that is built on top of Bitcoin. It solves the long-standing scalability problem of Bitcoin by enabling smart contracts to be built on this network. 

Being compatible with Bitcoin, Stacks can make use of its strengths: high security, large capital, and impressive network effect. At the same time, Stacks unlocks the full potential of Bitcoin by allowing DeFi applications to be built on top of this network.

How does Stacks work? 

Stacks is connected with Bitcoin through a new consensus mechanism called: Proof-of-Transfer (PoX). This mechanism is said to have the high-security feature of the Proof-of-Work mechanism while still maintaining the high-scalability characteristic of the Proof-of-Stake one.

There are 2 participants in the Proof of Transfer process:

• Miners: They bid their BTC to have the chance of writing blocks on Stacks blockchain and minting rewards. The rewards are newly minted STX (the native coin of Stacks) and transaction fees.
• Stackers: They lock their STX to receive BTC from Miners with the amount of BTC received in proportion with the amount of STX locked.

Why is Stacks unique? 

While Stacks inherits strengths of Bitcoin Network...

• High security: All Stacks transactions are settle on Bitcoin, which means that transactions on Stack have the high-security properties of Bitcoin Network.
• Large capital: Stacks unlocks huge of capital of Bitcoin by offering Bitcoin holders more ways to earn and use their BTC. They can earn BTC by stacking STX and joining the Proof-of-Transfer process while being able to use BTC in many interactive cryptocurrency applications on Stacks.

…. Stacks still scales independently of Bitcoin:

• Low cost and Fast transaction: Many people may question the probability of expensive fees and limited speed of Stacks when it is built on Bitcoin. In terms of fees, transaction cost on Bitcoin is based on cost per byte while with Stacks, millions of smart contracts can be represented on a single hash on Bitcoin. This makes the transaction cost on Stacks insignificant.
• In terms of speed, Stacks uses microblocks which offer confirmation of transactions in just a few seconds. Hence, despite being built on Bitcoin, Stacks still has near-zero fees and ultra-fast speed of transactions.

• Not a layer-2 system for Bitcoin: Through the Proof-of-Transfer mechanism, Stacks run in parallel to the Bitcoin chain. The Stacks blockchain state is different from Bitcoin, it is maintained by and for Stacks nodes. While Lightning, a layer-2 system for Bitcoin, helps scale Bitcoin payment transactions, Stacks is designed to generate more use cases for Bitcoin through smart contracts applications.

Stacks ecosystem

The Stacks ecosystem is significantly small compared to other giants like Solana, Polygon,... but it is growing at an impressive pace. The majority of projects built on Stacks are still in the testing or building phase. 

At this moment, 2 of the most important DeFi stacks: DEX and Stablecoin have already had testnet on Stacks and are expected to pave the way for the boom of the ecosystem. 

By early 2022, more projects may be implemented on Stacks and cross-chain bridges are said to be available at that time, showing the potential growth of Stacks in the upcoming years.

What is STX token?

STX is the native token of the Stacks blockchain. It is used to pay the fee for all of the transactions in the network. STX holders can also earn BTC by staking STX to contribute to the consensus process of Stacks transactions.

Detailed information about STX token

STX Key Metrics

• Token Name: Stacks
• Ticker: STX
• Blockchain: Stacks
• Token Standard:  SIP-010
• Contract: Updating...
• Token type: Utility
• Max Supply: 1,818,000,000 STX
• Total Supply: 1,352,464,600 STX

STX Token Allocation

STX Token Sales

STX Token Release Schedule

STX Token Use Cases

STX can now be used for 2 main purposes:

• Pay transaction fees in the Stacks ecosystem.
• Earn BTC by stacking STX to join the consensus process of the blockchain.

How to get STX token

Some exchanges where you can buy STX at the moment are Okcoin, Binance, KuCoin, crypto.com, UPbit, OKEx. STX is not available for trading in DEX yet.

How to buy STX token on Coin98 Exchange

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How to store STX token on Coin98 Wallet

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Stacks Roadmap

H1 2020:

• Stacks 2.0 testnet.
• Release whitepaper for PoX mining and earning Bitcoin through consensus participation.
• The formation of an independent Stacks Foundation, driven by the community.

H2 2020: Android Stacks 2.0 wallet.

H1 2021:

• Stacks 2.0 mainnet.
• Clarity smart contract language.

2022: Stacks Integrates Orbit Chain - cross-chain interoperability protocol.

Team, Investors, and Partners

Team

Stacks was founded by 2 computer scientists from Princeton University, who are Dr. Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea. Other members in the Stacks core team all have PhDs in decentralized systems. 

Investors

Partner

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Is Stacks (STX) a good investment?

I hope that from all the mentioned information, you can get a basic understanding of Stacks to start researching more about this project. It is hard to tell firmly whether any project/ token is a good investment or not. 

However, I will provide you with some key highlights of Stacks so that you can do your own research and make your own investment decisions.

Stacks decentralized ecosystem is at the early stage of development but it shows an impressive growth rate. Currently, 2 of the most important DeFi stacks DEX and Stablecoin have released testnet, and the mainnet will be available soon at the end of 2021. This can pave the way for a tremendous boom of the DeFi ecosystem on Stacks later.

In September 2021, Stacks Accelerators Day had many projects present their products. This promises the influx of many new Dapps to be implemented on Stacks in the near future.

Stacks has announced that a cross-chain bridge will be integrated in Q2, 2022. This opens the future of a rapid expansion for the network when it can capture value from other blockchains. However, Stacks’s inner infrastructure should be built well enough by that time to make the most out of the outside capital.

Stacks aims for a regulated crypto trading future for mass adoption. STX is the first cryptocurrency that is approved by SEC for sales offering in 2019. CityCoin, one of the Dapps built on Stacks, has released Miani Coin Funding, which was accepted by the Miami mayor. If STX can work well with regulators, then the potential scale is tremendous.

Similar project

Some similar projects:

• Lightning: Layer-2 system on Bitcoin.
• Other blockchain platforms: Cosmos, Polkadot,...

Conclusion

That is all you need to know about Stacks. In general, the decentralized ecosystem on Stacks is just at the early stage and many things are to be worked on in the future. 

However, Stacks is showing its huge growth rate when constantly updating new plans for the community: the activities of native projects, implementation of new infrastructure (bridge), any important events of the network (Stacks Accelerator Day),... Therefore, more innovations can be expected from Stacks in the near future.

If you want to have more information about this project, feel free to comment down below.

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