Zest Protocol loans jump 132% to $14.75M in Q3

The Bitcoin lending protocol on Stacks grew mostly through net new borrowing, then hit a record above $40 million before pulling back Zest Protocol, a Bitcoin lending platform built on Stacks, posted a 132% increase in loans on its Stacks V2 market during the third quarter of 2026. Outstanding loans reached $14.75 million by quarter’s end. An on-chain analysis by Alea Research breaks down the quarter’s numbers. Approximately $6.20 million of the increase came from net new borrowing. Another $2.18 million came from higher token prices. Activity kept climbing after the quarter closed. In early October, borrows on the Stacks market passed an all-time high above $40 million. That peak did not hold. By early November 2026, active loans had settled at approximately $25 million, with total value locked (TVL) around $46.6 million. The TVL path has been bumpy. The Stacks market’s TVL reached $87.28 million by early October 2026, an 18.2% gain from September, before falling back to the November level. On revenue, the protocol’s cumulative fees passed $540,000 as of early November 2026. Vaults, liquidations, and a pause On September 23, 2026, Zest launched a mainnet demo of its Bitcoin Collat...