REVIEW OF THE STACKS BLOCKCHAIN: INTERESTING TIME AHEAD FOR THE STACKS ECOSYSTEM

When the Bitcoin network was created, it creation came with it some missing features that as time goes on, it became obvious that the Bitcoin blockchain couldn’t achieve these features. The inability to develop smart contract and build decentralized applications on the network was one of these missing features. Several cryptocurrencies have been developed to remedy these missing features in the Bitcoin blockchain and one project that is building something unique to expand the Bitcoin development is STACKS.

WHAT IS STACKS BLOCKCHAIN

Stacks is a cryptocurrency project with the purpose of bringing smart contract functionality and decentralized application development onto the Bitcoin blockchain without changing any of it features (stability and security). The stacks cryptocurrency was birthed in 2013 and was referred to as Blockstack. In 2020, it was rebranded as Stacks with the intent of making the internet better through decentralized apps.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Stacks was Co-founded by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea, both an alunmi of the Princeton University. They designed the project as a layer-1 solution using bitcoin as it base layer. The native coin of the network is stacks (STX) and it powers the stacks network. The Co-founders built the stacks network to be open and modular, allowing developers to be able to build different apps on each other and perform several functions that are unknown to the Bitcoin network.

Stacks blockchain operates in relation to the Bitcoin network in the sense that it allows for the interaction between miners and stackers, not stakers as they are popularly called in crypto. The founders created a unique consensus mechanism to regulate the interaction between the miners and stackers, and it is known as Proof of Transfer or POX. Unlike what obtains in the Bitcoin blockchain, miners in the stacks blockchain are not obliged to mine any form of coins or tokens, rather, in other to earn STX as rewards, these miners are required to commit their already mined bitcoin in exchange for STX.

Worthy of note is that each block mined on the stacks blockchain stores up the user IDs and details of the transactions and in turn these data are used to interact with every other apps on the stacks ecosystem. Any authorized changes made to the stacks wallet balances and IDs can be verified using the bitcoin blockchain, this is due to it connection to the Bitcoin network. This is also applicable to smart contract built on the stacks blockchain which leverages the bitcoin blockchain.

STACKS STORAGE SYSTEM

The stacks team developed a storage system called Gaia, which is use to store all the data that are not stored on the stacks blockchain. This unique storage system leverages the storage solution provided by Microsoft azure and dropbox. The team also give users the freedom to use their own storage system in place of other storage systems mentioned as long as they have the capabilities in terms of their computing strength.

Stacks have built for itself a lot of value and it is not slowing down in terms of its development and value. Since its inception, the team has consistently been developing this project to be a truly reliable layer for the Bitcoin blockchain. Its innovative Proof of Transfer consensus and smart contract coding language have played key roles in the progress of the ecosystem as seen over the years. It bring into the fore an easy to use syntax that makes top level security possible.

VALUE PROPOSITION

Its value proposition drew the attention of the US government through funding activities in the project and also, SEC’s backing for its initial coin offering made stacks the first to achieve such feat in the crypto space.

You may ask what gives value to the stacks token. Miners are incentivize with new stacks token when they commit their mined BTC. Additionally, STX holders can stack their STX and earn BTC as a reward.

STX FUTURE PRICE PROSPECT

Many concerns have been raised regarding the value of STX in the coming years and this primarily dependent on the stacks platform and the ever-growing smart contract niche. Should this change in the future, we may see STX see a downward price movement. But this has not been the case recently as the STX token has been rallying and crushing the upward numbers lately. This is largely due to the increasing value of the Bitcoin price. STX token price has been correlating with the Bitcoin price especially as we approach the halving cycle for bitcoin.

The price of STX has moved from an all time low of $0.045 in March 2020 to an all time high of $3.61 in November 2021, that is more than a 2,000% increase in token value. At the time of writing this review, STX is currently trading in the region of $2.50 - $2.63. We believe the stacks token is poised to break it all time high in the coming weeks or months especially as we approach the Bitcoin halving of 2024 which is less than 50 days away. Additionally, the highly anticipated Stacks 2.0 is also a major factor that is building this momentum.

At Deftify, we will be tracking the Stacks ecosystem in this cycle and see how far the price reaches. We look forward to covering Stacks in another crypto updates soon.

Thank you.

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