Stacks ranks first in Bitfinex report on Bitcoin usage

Stacks, the Bitcoin layer-2 protocol that enables smart contracts on top of the world’s largest blockchain, has been highlighted by Bitfinex as a leading protocol in terms of actual Bitcoin usage. The recognition comes amid a broader push by the exchange to deepen its involvement in the Bitcoin layer-2 ecosystem. Bitfinex’s engagement with Stacks goes well beyond a simple shoutout. The exchange listed the native STX token on April 8, 2025, and simultaneously took on the role of a network signer, meaning Bitfinex is actively helping to secure the Stacks blockchain itself. What makes Stacks different Most layer-2 networks in crypto are built on Ethereum. Stacks took a different path entirely, anchoring itself to Bitcoin through a consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Transfer, or PoX. Miners on Stacks commit actual BTC to participate in block production, tying the network’s security directly to Bitcoin’s. That mechanism has resulted in more than 4,000 BTC moving on-chain through PoX since 2021. To put that in perspective, that’s roughly $400M worth of Bitcoin at current prices flowing through a single layer-2 protocol’s consensus engine. Then there’s sBTC, a Bitcoin-backed asset that l...