Q1 2023 Recap: Build, Bitcoin, Repeat
⭐️ Stacks 2.1 was officially activated in March, paving the way for Nakamoto and sBTC
⭐️ Stacks reached the 100,000 block height milestone
⭐️ Bitcoin-secured clarity smart contracts crushed the 60,000 milestone
⭐️ Stacks outgained the market to solidify a position in the top 50 of CMCs ranking
⭐️ Stacks was the top trending cryptocurrency on social platforms for 3 weeks (2 weeks in a row), (LunarCrush)

Read the full newsletter 👇

21 Startup Ideas for sBTC (Stacks Bitcoin Backed Asset) end 2023)
There is already active development in the ecosystem for many of these use cases. For the others, we are seeking founders to get involved. If you are interesting in building the next generation of Bitcoin DeFi products, please get in touch!

DeFi & Trading
1. Automated Market Makers - decentralized swaps between sBTC and other tokens.
2. Bitcoin Yield Aggregators - a protocol for yield optimization that automates investing in various strategies.
3. Bitcoin-backed Stablecoins - decentralized stablecoins to access liquidity.

Lending & Borrowing
1. Collateralized Bitcoin Loans - permissionless lending and borrowing.
2. Bitcoin Flash Loans - flash loan protocol for arbitrage and collateral swapping.

View the other 15 potential startups for Stacks in 2023 down below 👇

Zest Protocol's Co-Founder Tycho Onnasch shares his thoughts on the potential of Bitcoin 💭

He said that Bitcoin is the largest opportunity! As it currently stands, there are almost a half a trillion dollars of capital that can be leveraged ⚖️

Catch him speak at the virtual Building on Bitcoin Summit on April 19, 2023 🎙️

Register here ☜

🌎 Introducing Local Stacks Communities
The Stacks Foundation Chapters program is an initiative designed to promote and support the growth of local communities of developers, enthusiasts, and users of the Stacks Bitcoin layer. Hear from:

🇮🇩 Abdurrachman Mappuji (Puji)
🇦🇺 Gordon Christian
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nathaniel Cole
🇺🇸 Bryan Guadagno

I got into Stacks because of the strong ethos and alignment with strengthening the uses of Bitcoin. - Nathaniel Cole

Read more about the local communities 👇

And the work continues as we unleash Bitcoin's full potential 🚀

Here's a quick recap of the first quarter with Stacks ⤵️
🌟 Was named #1 project on Bitcoin
🌟 Reached 100,000 block height
🌟 60,000 total smart contracts
🌟 Activated 2.1

Read the full newsletter entitled Q1 2023: Build, Bitcoin, Repeat 👈

All made possible because of the builders' community and your unending support! 💟

Here's a quick guide on setting up your wallet with Xverse 📖

Xverse Wallet is a Chrome browser extension and mobile app that allows you to manage your Bitcoin private keys. It enables you to manage BTC and other tokens like STX and interact with decentralized applications 💱

Read the full guide here ◀️

Questions? You can always visit their support desk and contact their support team! ℹ️

ICYMI: The ALEX Lab Foundation recently launched the ALEX Bridge Testnet 🚀

ℹ️ ALEX Bridge will enable users to move wrapped USDT between the Stacks and Ethereum networks

Their goal is always to build together with their community 🤝

Community members who participate in testing, provide feedback, and help them improve will be rewarded 🏆

Here's the full article ⬅️

Learn more about ALEX Bridge here 👈

Leading Bitcoin Decentralized Finance Platform ALEX to be listed on MEXC
The ALEX Launchpad has been concluded!
MEXC will list $ALEX/USDT trading in the Innovation Zone at 14:00 on Apr 17 (UTC).

ALEX is the leading Bitcoin DeFi platform, built with Stacks' smart contract language Clarity.

🔹Deposits: Apr 17, 14:00 (UTC)
🔹Withdrawal: Apr 18, 12:00 (UTC)
Tweet announcement 👇

Catch the Stacks founder and CEO of Trust Machines, Muneeb Ali, at the virtual Building on Bitcoin Summit tomorrow! 📣

Learn more about the thesis that every experiment in crypto will eventually gravitate toward Bitcoin 🚀

Don't miss it! Register for free 👈

New Feature Alert on Gamma 🚨

You can now buy Bitcoin directly from their platform, powered by a brand new integration from Stripe 🪙

Did you know that Stripe powers about 20% of the global payments infrastructure? 💳

What to do? 👇
1️⃣ Connect your wallet
2️⃣ Click the down arrow
3️⃣ Then Buy Bitcoin

21Shares recently announced the world’s first ETP offering exposure to Stacks 🚨

🔸 21Shares Stacks Staking ETP (Ticker: ASTX) seeks to track the investment results of Stacks.

ℹ️ ASTX is designed to give investors an easy and accessible way to invest in Stacks, a layer for smart contracts on Bitcoin

Check here for more information ❗

10 ways sBTC unlocks the power of Bitcoin 🚀

sBTC, the upcoming 1:1 Bitcoin backed asset, enables Stacks smart contracts to write to Bitcoin – unlocking the value of Bitcoin and enabling previously dormant use cases 🔓

Here’s a quick look at 10 ways that sBTC will unlock the power of Bitcoin 👇
⭐ Lending Bitcoin
⭐ Borrowing Bitcoin
⭐ Swapping Bitcoin
⭐ Managing BTC risk
⭐ Supporting causes and creating assets
⭐ Ordinal trading scalability
⭐ Seamless experience for buying NFTs
⭐ NFTs as collateral to get a Bitcoin loan
⭐ Trust-minimized asset swapping
⭐ Unlocking the value of Bitcoin

▶️ LEARN MORE HERE ◀️

ICYM Unraveling Crypto's episode with Andre Serrano 🎙️

They discussed the following ⤵️
🔸 sBTC: Unlocking Bitcoin's potential
🔸 What he calls the "black swan" in Bitcoin
🔸 One of the key principles in web3: Privacy
🔸 Building an alternative financial system

Andre Serrano is a community builder, investor and strategist passionate about empowering people through technology and entrepreneurship

Tune in below👇
📺 YouTube
🎧 Spotify
 Apple

Replit now features Stacks layer for Bitcoin 🚨

The rapidly growing AI powered developer platform recently announced this update 📢

Stacks ‘Repls’ will be available to Replit's over 20 million users 🚀

The Stacks Replit profile will serve as a valuable collection of engineering resources to assist developers in learning how to build on Stacks including 👇

✅ Code templates
✅ The Stacks Connect start kit
✅ Beginner tutorials

Learn more here 👈

Stacks Foundation and Hiro Systems at Consensus 2023 📣

ℹ️ Consensus is the world's largest, longest-running and most influential gathering that brings together all sides of the cryptocurrency, blockchain and Web3 community.

Make sure to visit us at Booth 925 and 926 👋

More info + passes here 👈

What's Next For Bitcoin in 2023? - Building on Bitcoin 2023 🚀

ICYM the recently concluded Building on Bitcoin held last April 19. We've got you covered!

Tune in and learn about the layers, smart contracts, NFTs, Ordinals, and all things building on Bitcoin. Watch it HERE 📺

The recent sBTC weekly update tackles its product-market fit 🧩

Product-market fit is when a product satisfies a strong market demand.

The goal for sBTC is to successfully deploy Bitcoin capital in apps, products, and smart contracts alike that prove that you can unlock Bitcoin into productive use cases 📱

Read the full newsletter here 🗞️

Why do we need Decentralized Finance? 🤔

ℹ️ DeFi aka Decentralized Finance emerged due to the advancements in blockchain technology, particularly in the development of smart contracts.

We've asked a number of industry leaders within the ecosystem. Hear their thoughts on why this breakthrough is important! 🚀

Watch the full clip 📼

How do Web3 projects get their communities involved and determine to what extent? 🤔

It is made through Web3 Governance 🗳️

This refers to the decision-making process for a decentralized system -- it dictates how consensus is formed and to what degree the community can be involved with the direction of a project ℹ️

Hiro published a guide which covers ⤵️
⭐ What is Web3 Governance?
⭐ Why Web3 Projects May Benefit From Community Governance?
⭐ Types of Web3 Government Models?
⭐ How To Choose The Right Model For Your Project?

Read it here 🗂️

Are NFTs Dead? ☠️ Or Is There Exciting Latent Potential in NFT Technology? 🚀

These are the questions Hiro answered in their recent blog. 💭

As we all know, the NFT hype has cooled with the recent wave of rug pulls, trademark lawsuits, declining NFT sales, a challenging crypto bear market, and scams 📉

However, Hiro believes (with us included) that NFTs are just getting started! ⚡

Read the full article ➡️ here

How did we get here? From Bartering to Banknotes to Bitcoin 🤔

In one of their recent blog posts, Hiro dives deep into the evolution of money 💵

ℹ️ What is money? Britannica defines money as “a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange.”

Money is ultimately a social construct—it doesn’t work unless both parties in the exchange agree on the medium of value.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are the next big step in the evolution of money, but to understand how important Bitcoin is, we first need to take a step back and look at the history of money 🪙

Read the full blog here 🔍