Fresh Stacks Snacks 👇

→ Fireblocks talks institutional Bitcoin with Stacks
→ Leather extension goes multi wallet
→ Community Town Hall July 1

Voting for SIP-044 (Clarity 6) and SIP-045 (Bitcoin Staking) are approaching:

-Clarity 6 proposes the next version of Clarity introducing new capabilities that make it easier for devs to build on Stacks
-Bitcoin Staking proposes a mechanism that allows BTC holders to earn Bitcoin yield by stacking

Pending CAB voting this week, these proposals are expected to open for community vote on July 6.

Learn more here: https://stacks.foundation/community-vote-july-2026

Join the Stacks Community Town Hall now:
https://x.com/reubs_btc/status/2072319476813455860?s=20

Attention Stacks contributors: two consensus-breaking upgrades go to a vote in 4 days.

SIP-045 — introduces self-custodial Bitcoin Staking, with a supporting change to the STX emission schedule.
SIP-044 — proposes the next major version of the Clarity smart contract language.

Review both before voting opens:
SIP-044
SIP-045

Institutions won't deploy capital for BTC yield without direct custody of the underlying asset.

Bitcoin Staking on Stacks: your BTC remains on Bitcoin L1 under your private keys.

Here’s what happened on Stacks last week. 👇

- The Stacks Treasury Committee dropped its Q2 2026 community update
- STX also cracked #40 in Coinbase's COIN50 index
- Agents are paying agents on Bitcoin

Check more news here: https://x.com/katemparkman/status/2073079161329975338?s=20

Bitcoin Staking's yield via Stacks comes from Proof of Transfer (PoX), which has paid out 4,200+ BTC since January 2021.

Miners bid BTC to win the right to write Stacks blocks. The BTC they bid is distributed to those who stack. That is Proof of Transfer.

The yield comes from real miner economics, not from token emissions, inflation or lending.

Grow your Bitcoin: https://www.stacks.co/bitcoin-staking

Stacks Community DeGrants are back with applications closing on Sunday, July 26.

This cohort will fund community-led projects that strengthen culture, participation, and adoption across the Stacks ecosystem.

Grants will range from $3,000 to $5,000, focused on fewer, larger awards.

Apply for a DeGrant here: https://zeroauthoritydao.com/funding/degrants

Community vote for SIP 044 and SIP 045 is expected to start tomorrow, pending CAB approval.

Prepare to vote by reading the details of the SIPs on BTC Staking and Clarity 6.👇

SIP-045: https://github.com/adriano-stacks/sips/blob/dfaaa4200123374bff84f6a7049d5602bf19c223/sips/sip-xxx/sip-0XX-pox-5-bitcoin-staking.md

SIP-044: https://github.com/stacksgov/sips/pull/267

Liquid staked Bitcoin is coming to Stacks via Stacking DAO.

Built for the upcoming Bitcoin Staking release, stBTC lets holders stake BTC, earn a base yield, and keep that capital moving through DeFi across the ecosystem.

https://x.com/StackingDao/status/2074882229717623262?s=20

Voting is live for both SIP-044 (self-custodial Bitcoin Staking) and SIP-045 (Clarity 6) and your opinion matters in the Stacks ecosystem

If you hold STX, review both proposals and cast your vote before July 21.

https://ballot.gg/group/752208a9-99bf-447b-bbd8-182b0d20b47b/1NGYzWDPW6xN9sRfn9N1vivEQrGCj93ZEx

10 teams have been selected for the Q2 2026 Stacks Endowment grantees to build across Bitcoin-native finance, liquidity, privacy, and agentic applications.

The projects selected are working on use cases that are compounding sBTC, Bitcoin Staking, and Stacks adoption.

Read more about the grantees and what they are working on here: https://x.com/StacksEndowment/status/2076694415372935438?s=20

Voting on the SIPs for Bitcoin staking and Clarity 6 is ongoing.

It's now time for the Stacks community to vote on both proposals.

Here is a step by step voting guide from a Stacks community leader:

https://x.com/godfred_xcuz/status/2075887766659813534?s=20

Staking gave ETH and SOL more than yield. It gave them a base to build an entire onchain ecosystem on.

Bitcoin's $1.3T has been waiting for that base, and that's what we're building toward with Stacks.

Here is what to expect for the next six weeks on Stacks:

~July 29: PoX-5 hardfork (pending SIP vote), paving the way for Bitcoin Staking.

Late August: the Genesis Bond, the first Bitcoin Protocol Bond on Stacks.

Stakers will need to restake STX after the fork. More details coming soon

What a bear market looks like on Stacks 🚢

The Stacks community has approved SIP-044 (Clarity 6) and SIP-045 (Bitcoin Staking), with over 99.99% of votes in favor of both proposals.

1) Clarity 6 adds built in functions for verifying Bitcoin transactions onchain.

2) PoX-5 enables self-custodial Bitcoin Staking: BTC locked on Bitcoin L1 alongside STX, earning BTC yield from miner bids via Proof of Transfer.

The two upgrades will ship together in the PoX-5 hard fork on ~July 29. The fork unlocks all stacked STX, so Stackers will need restack afterward to continue earning BTC rewards while signers, pools, and miners will upgrade nodes before activation.

Zest Protocol has launched Stacks Swap.

Stacks Swap compares liquidity pools across Stacks DEXs and returns the route with the best output for every trade.

The approved quote sets the worst-case price. The swap executes at that level or better, or not at all.

Read more about it here: https://x.com/ZestProtocol/status/2080187558156443856?s=20

The Bitcoin Staking Roadmap page is live

Track everything related to Bitcoin Staking: timelines, links, posts, and updates as they ship leading up to the official launch.

https://x.com/Stacks/status/2080398763169050766?s=20

The Stacks Q2 Ecosystem Report is now live.

The report covers institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth, and infrastructure milestones, including:

- Bitcoin Staking's preparations for Q3 launch
- Fireblocks and UTXO Management institutional partnerships
- Cumulative Stacks users past the 1.6M mark

Full report: https://www.stacks.co/blog/q2-2026