STX, the ticker for the cryptocurrency that powers Bitcoin layer-2 smart-contract-enabled scaling solution Stacks, has been pumping in the last few days. According to CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency is up another 7% in the last 24 hours, taking its seven-day price performance to around 100% and its one-month gain to around 120%.
STX/USD was last changing hands in the $0.60 area, having at one point pumped as high as the $0.80 area earlier in the session for a second time this week. Some bulls are predicting a surge towards $0.10 per token in the coming days and week, given a lack of resistance to stymie a bullish move beyond $0.80. The recent pump marks a decisive breakout from the bear market that had dominated since late 2021.
Bitcoin NFT Hype is Pumping Stacks
Analysts put the recent pump down to the strengthening narrative of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) existing within a Bitcoin-centred cryptocurrency ecosystem. The launch of the Ordinal protocol last year, which allows users to mint NFTs directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain, has proven a massive success – according to a popular Bitcoin developer who goes by the Twitter handle of @andrerserrano, over 150,000 Ordinal NFTs have now been minted directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain, with cumulative fees spent on minting these NFTs now above $1 million.
1/ The Facts: ⭐️ There have been >150K Ordinals inscriptions to date. ⭐️ Cumulative fees spent minting Ordinals has passed $1M. More below — andre.btc (@andrerserrano) February 20, 2023
The surge in popularity of Ordinals seems to be boosting the popularity of Bitcoin scaling solutions, like Stacks, which may offer users a cheaper and more efficient way of minting NFTs within the Bitcoin ecosystem. According to popular pseudonymous Twitter account @LeonidasNFT, “the birth of ordinals will go down in history as being the pivotal moment where Bitcoin transitioned from being a currency-only chain to having many use cases and a vibrant ecosystem”.
The birth of ordinals will go down in history as being the pivotal moment where Bitcoin transitioned from being a currency-only chain to having many use cases and a vibrant ecosystem. The Bitcoin Maxi narrative is slowly dying. Just look at @Stacks which is up 46% today. pic.twitter.com/xaeDOFDf1M — Leonidas.og (@LeonidasNFT) February 20, 2023
According to @andrerserrano, the Stacks ecosystem has been taking the lead with regards to Bitcoin’s new NFT use case.
2/ The @Stacks community has taken the lead on #Bitcoin Ordinals: ⭐️ @trygamma shipped Ordinal inscriptions ⭐️ @xverseApp launched Ordinal support in wallet ⭐️ @hirosystems is building an Ordinals explorer — andre.btc (@andrerserrano) February 20, 2023
Traders will be monitoring with intrigue to see how far the STX rally can go. If the growing narrative of Bitcoin transitioning from just a cryptocurrency to the consensus layer of a more vibrant ecosystem, with the Stacks protocol leading the charge, then STX could soon be headed significantly higher versus current levels.
What is Stacks?
Stacks is a layer-2 scaling solution built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. The protocol is smart-contract-enabled, allowing developers to build and deploy decentralized applications that benefit from the security provided by using the Bitcoin network as the settlement layer. Stacks hopes that its protocol can contribute to expansion in a Bitcoin-centric Decentralized Finance ecosystem.
Welcome to #Stacks ⭐ A #Bitcoin layer for smart contracts ⭐ Enabling smart contracts and decentralized applications to trustlessly use $BTC as an asset ⭐ Settling transactions on the #Bitcoin blockchain ⭐ Unlocking #Bitcoin Decentralized Finance, NFTs, BNS, and more pic.twitter.com/VoHnypE1dx — stacks.btc (@Stacks) February 21, 2023
According to a lengthy Twitter thread posted by Stacks’ co-creator @muneeb, “whatever you can build on Ethereum, Solana, you can build on Stacks L2s”. @muneed outlined an upgrade coming to the Stacks layer-2 protocol later this year; “the next version coming later this year adds (a) a decentralized BTC peg to easily move BTC capital in and out of Stacks L2, (b) a security upgrade where 100% of Bitcoin hashpower decides finality, and (c) faster speeds (no longer limited by 10 block Bitcoin times).”
“Unlocking $500B of BTC capital is the goal”, @muneeb added. Regarding the role of the STX token that powers the protocol, @muneed explained that “STX is used as (a) incentives for miners and (b) incentives for peg-out signers for sBTC… to keep mining and signing decentralized”.
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