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Choose your quick section of our Stacks review below.
A Quick Overview of our Stacks Review:
Stacks was initially founded as Blockstack, which was rebranded late in 2025 to Stacks to separate the ecosystem as well as the open-source project from Blockstack PBC, which is the company behind the original protocols.
What is Stacks?
Stacks is a layer-1 blockchain solution which was designed with the aim to bring smart contracts as well as decentralised applications (DApps) to Bitcoin. Smart contracts used by Stacks are brought over to Bitcoin without changing any of the unique features that make it powerful, namely its security and scalability.
Key Features and Takeaways of Stacks
Stacks is one of the most popular and innovative cryptocurrency projects that has the following key features and takeaways:
Stacks was initially founded as Blockstack, which was rebranded late in 2025 to Stacks to separate the ecosystem as well as the open-source project from Blockstack PBC, which is the company behind the original protocols.
Stacks received initial funding from a variety of prominent venture capital funds which consisted of Y Combinator, Digital Currency Group, and several others.
Following the rebranding to Stacks, Blockstack PBC now operates under the name Hiro Systems PBC, joining a variety of other companies on the Stacks platform.
The DApps which are featured on the Stacks blockchain are both open and modular. This means that developers can build on one another’s applications to produce features that cannot be found in one singular application.
In using Bitcoin as a base layer, everything that happens on the Stacks network is settled on the most secure blockchain.
STX is the native token of Stacks that powers the platform, used for fuelling the execution of smart contracts, processing transactions, and the registration of new digital assets on the Stacks 2.0 blockchain.
Stacks takes all that makes Bitcoin powerful and extends it with additional functionality without the need to fork or change the initial Bitcoin blockchain.
Stacks does this by connecting to the Bitcoin blockchain through a Proof of Transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism, with miners paying in BTC to mint new STX tokens. In addition to this, those who hold STX can stack tokens to earn rewards in BTC.
Thousands of transactions that are executed on Stacks results in just a single hash on the blockchain of Bitcoin. These transactions are settled automatically every time a block is created on Bitcoin and in addition, Stacks has introduced the concept of microblocks, which means that confirmation is given within seconds.
Stacks has introduced a new smart contract programming language, Clarity. This programming language was designed to be secure and easy to build with as result of its unique unambiguous syntax.
Stacks Mining
The Proof of Transfer consensus mechanism consists of two participants namely STX miners and STX holders.
STX Miners
A group of STX miners can view the state on the Stacks and Bitcoin blockchains. These miners are responsible to elect leaders in each round, and they subsequently spend Bitcoin by sending transactions to the Bitcoin network.
Leaders are selected with each round through a Verifiable Random Function and the elected leader is then responsible to write the new block to the Stacks blockchain. STX miners are subsequently rewarded for their contribution and they receive newly minted STX that originates from transaction fees and from smart contract execution fees.
PoX Mining
PoX mining is a simple and improved type of Proof of Burn involving the transfer of tokens to other network participants as rewards instead of being burned and destroyed. In the Stacks network, a PoX miner transfers Bitcoin to eligible STX holders and in return, they receive newly minted STX tokens, allowing for all network participants and users to benefit.
Miners who choose to participate in the consensus mechanism run a mining client from their computer or server. The mining client is responsible for the implementation of the PoX mechanism, ensuring that the process is handled and managed through four key phrases:
Registration – which involves miners registering themselves for the upcoming election by sending consensus data to the network.
Commitment – for miners to participate in the election, those who registered must transfer Bitcoin to eligible STX holders proportional to the amount that they staked.
Election – which is a Verifiable Random Function that chooses a miner at random as the leader to write a new block on the Stacks blockchain.
Assembly – which involves the newly elected leader writing the new block and subsequently receiving newly minted STX tokens as a reward.
The PoX parameters are as follows:
The block reward is 1 000 STX for the first 4 years, 500 STX for another 4 years, 250 STX for the 4 years after that, and finally, 125 STX in perpetuity after that.
The Stacks blockchain produces blocks in the same rate as Bitcoin.
The block reward maturity window is 100 blocks. This means that if a miner wins a block, they can earn the coinbase reward for that block once 100 blocks have elapsed.
The stacking parameters are 2 reward addresses per block and the stacking threshold involves the minimum number of STX which is needed, which is dynamic and dependent on participation.
Typically, it is 0.25% of the participation amount of STX with participation between 25% to 100%, and below 25%, it is always 0.00625% of the liquid supply of STX.
Pros and Cons
| ✔️Pros | ❌Cons |
|---|---|
| Stacks features a protocol, application, Bitcoin system, and a proprietary Stacks blockchain and each layer has its own function | There is a significant amount of competition in the field |
| Stacks has a robust ecosystem and makes verification with Bitcoin easy | |
| Stacks uses the important elements from bitcoin and adds a few more for the extension, ensuring that all participants benefit | |
| PoX consensus mechanism is efficient, and all participants are rewarded | |
| The new program for smart contracts is easy and safe to use |
Transaction Fees
| Type of Fee | Information |
|---|---|
| Withdrawal Fees | 5 STX |
Should you buy Stacks?
Stacks takes the important elements from Bitcoin and adds a variety of additional functions, making Stacks a promising project that has drawn a lot of investors. However, the field involved with crypto projects is currently overflooded and there is a lot of competition between projects.
Stacks brings a substantial number of benefits to the crypto community and the PoX consensus method ensures robust security of the network along with ensuring that all participants are rewarded fairly.
Stacks aims to bring smart contracts and decentralised applications to the Bitcoin network, making it a versatile and powerful Layer-1 solution. In the past five months, STX’s price has jumped significantly, and this is set to increase with widespread adoption.
How to buy Stacks (STX)
Step 1 – Register an account with Gate.io
Navigate to the official Gate.io website and select the option to “Sign Up” from the homepage.
Complete the online registration form by providing country/region, a selected username, email address, and user-selected password. Read and accept the User Agreement and Privacy and select “Next”.
Create a fund password and select “Create Account”. Complete the “I am not a robot” reCAPTCHA. Check your email inbox for the activation email and click on the link in the email. If the link does not work, you can copy and paste the URL into your browser.
Log into your account using your credentials and complete the reCAPTCHA.
Check your email again for the verification email that contains the 6-digit code and click on “Confirm”. Enter the code that you received into the blocks provided and select “Log In” to proceed.
Before you can use the platform to purchase Stacks/STX and other cryptocurrencies on Gate.io, you must complete the “Know Your Client” or KYC procedure to verify your identity and your proof of residence.
Click on “KYC Now” at the bottom of the webpage to start the process.
Select whether you are an individual or an organisation by selecting “Verify Now” under the relevant option.
Select your country from the dropdown list, enter your full name followed by confirmation thereof. Select your ID document type and provide your ID Number as shown on your official ID Document.
Click on the first image to upload a clear photo of the front of your ID document followed by a clear photo of the back of the document.
Next, write your Gate.io unique ID on a piece of paper and take a photo of yourself holding up your identity document (front) and the paper containing your unique ID.
Once you have done this, click on “Confirm and Submit”.
Next, you must enable the Timed One-Time Password (TOTP) to be able to log into your account. This can be done by clicking on “Set Now” at the bottom of the page.
On the new page that loads, select “Click here” to set up Two-factor Authentication.
Download Google Authenticator onto your mobile device by making use of any of the abovementioned methods.
Follow the steps indicated to add your Gate.io account by scanning the QR code or entering your unique key.
Enter the TOTP, your fund password, and the code sent to your email address and select “Enable Two-factor Authentication”. With this setup, you must use the Google Authenticator app to sign into your account every time.
Step 2 – Deposit funds
You must note that Gate.io is only a crypto-to-crypto exchange which means there is no fiat gateway. The only way through which funds can be added, is to transfer an existing crypto into your Gate.io wallet.
STX can only be bought through Tether/USDT or Bitcoin/BTC while it can be traded with USD as a futures contract.
Navigate to the deposit/withdrawal section by hovering over your account and selecting the relevant option. Choose from the list of coins in which you can make a deposit and select “deposit” next to the appropriate coin.
You will be redirected to a page which generates a deposit address for the coin that you wish to deposit.
Copy this address, or scan the QR code, into the wallet where you are making a withdrawal from and depositing to Gate.io and wait for the relevant blockchain to confirm your transaction. Once the transaction has been completed and verified by the nodes on the chain, the coins will be sent to the Gate.io wallet and you can start trading STX.
Step 3 – Explore your trading options
Gate.io offers a variety of ways through which cryptocurrencies can be obtained. Each of these can be explored individually depending on your trading needs and objectives.
To start trading STX, select the option from the “Trade” Menu. Enter “STX” into the search bar to see which trading options are available.
For spot trading, for instance and as an example, select STX_USDT. Once you have selected, you will be directed to the exchange page which corresponds to the cryptocurrency pair STX/USDT.
Here, you will see that you have the option to buy or sell STX either as a limit order, grid trading, or as a time condition. The most common trading method is that of limit trading and thus it will be used for this guide.
Step 3 – Buy STX through via Limit Order
To buy STX and create a limit order for it, you can enter the amount of STX you want to purchase, and the price you want to buy it at in USDT. This tool will tell you what the overall cost is in USDT, or any other chosen counter-currency, which will be deducted from your wallet once the order has been executed.
Step 4 – Sell STX through via Limit Order
To sell STX, find the panel under the chart and create a limit order for USDT according to your own preferences. Note that with a peg to USD, STX that you exchange for USDT will hold the flat value that it has despite market conditions in the cryptocurrency market.
Step 5 – Withdraw funds
To withdraw funds, you will use the same page in Gate.io which was used to make a deposit.
Click on the deposit/withdrawal option on your Account dropdown and find the wallet of the currency that you wish to withdraw. You can do this easily by using the search bar provided.
Instead of a deposit address being generated, you will do this on the exchange, or the wallet being used as the destination for withdrawal of funds from Gate.io. Paste the address of the receiving wallet in the field provided and provide your Gate.io fund password, email code, and TOTP before selecting “Submit Request”.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When was Stacks first launched?
Stacks was founded in 2013.
Who founded Stacks?
The company behind Stacks is Blockstack PBC (now Hiro Systems PBC) which was established by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea.
What is “ICO”?
It is Initial Coin Offering that, unlike an IPO, does not mean that those who invest in the cryptocurrency will have an ownership stake of the company that they provide funds to.
When was Stacks’ ICO and how much did it raise?
Stacks did not hold an ICO but launched a Reg A+ sale cash offering in 2019, raising 392 million ZAR.
Is Stacks legit?
Yes, Stacks is legit.
What is Stacks’ total supply?
There is a total supply of 1 818 000 000 STX.
What is the purpose of Stacks?
To bring smart contracts and DApps to the Bitcoin network without changing any of its features but adding to it to make it more robust and versatile.
On which blockchain is Stacks based?
Stacks is based on its own blockchain.
Does Stacks work with smart contracts?
Yes, Stacks works with smart contracts.
Does Stacks have potential to become more valuable?
Yes, Stacks has the potential to become more valuable.
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