Stacks Unveils Self-Custodial Bitcoin Staking Mechanism
Stacks Labs has published a whitepaper outlining its proposed Bitcoin Staking mechanism. This allows BTC holders to earn native Bitcoin yield without bridging, wrapping, or surrendering custody of their coins.
The mechanism builds on the existing Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism, which has distributed over 4,200 BTC in stacking rewards since January 2021.
Under Bitcoin Staking, participants form 'protocol bonds' where a BTC timelock is paired with a corresponding STX lock on Stacks for a 6-month bonding period. This targets a fixed yield subject to the risks inherent to the protocol.
The whitepaper proposes that Bitcoin Staking will launch in two phases: PoX-5 and PoX-6. The first phase, expected to last approximately 12 months, is a managed bootstrap period where capacity and yield parameters are set by Stacks Endowment in collaboration with institutional partners.