Stacks, formerly Blockstack, is an open-source platform to enable smart contracts, DeFi, NFTs, and apps for Bitcoin. Stacks blockchain is a "layer" for Bitcoin similar to the

Lightning Network The Lightning Network (LN) is a "layer 2" payment protocol layered on top of Bitcoin (and other blockchains and cryptocurrencies). It is intended to enable fast transactions among participating nodes and has been proposed as a solution to the ...

. In addition to smart contracts, the Stacks project provides open-source software for authentication, and data storage.

Design

Concerns around internet privacy, security, and data breaches brought attention to the Stacks project. Software developers have used the Stacks software to build decentralized alternatives to popular services. Stacks (STX) token is the native cryptocurrency of the Stacks blockchain, which is used as gas fee for executing smart contracts and processing transactions.

History

Stacks project was originally started by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea as Blockstack. STX became the first SEC qualified token offering in 2019. Blockstack PBC, a company working on the Stacks technology, raised around $75 million through a mix of venture capital and token sales. The main Stacks blockchain launched in Jan 2021.

Applications

Blockchain Naming System (BNS)

The Blockchain Naming System is an application used to register human-readable, globally unique names with accounts on the Stacks blockchain. A BNS name consists of a namespace, the name and optionally a subdomain. Examples are muneeb.id, muneeb.btc and muneeb.id.blockstack. The application was originally launched on the

Namecoin Namecoin (Abbreviation: NMC; sign: \mathbb) is a cryptocurrency originally forked from bitcoin software. It uses proof-of-work algorithm. Like bitcoin, it is limited to \mathbb21 million. Namecoin can store data within its own blockchain ...

blockchain.

CityCoins

The CityCoins project has launched fungible tokens for the cities of Miami and New York City. In September 2021, Miami's city commissioners voted to accept the protocol treasury, valued at $21M at the time. MiamiCoin's value crashed, and so Stacks donated $5.25 million to the City of Miami.

References

Blockchains Computing platforms Cryptocurrencies {{Cryptocurrency-stub