# Stacks (Stacks Labs, Stacks Foundation)

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/stacks
Stacks is a smart-contract network whose blocks are anchored to Bitcoin. Its sBTC token, backed 1:1 by bitcoin held by a group of signers, lets BTC be used in lending and trading apps. Stacks Labs, set up in 2025 and funded by the Stacks Endowment, leads development.

## In brief

- sBTC peg held ~2,441 BTC in Aug 2026, down 51% from its 5,016 BTC peak in June 2025.
- Founder Muneeb Ali returns as Stacks Labs CEO from 15 Oct 2026.
- Self-custodial Bitcoin staking launched on Stacks in Sept 2026.

## Facts

- Founded: 2017
- Headquarters: US, KY
- Status: nonprofit
- Website: https://www.stacks.co
- Frontiers: [Crypto](https://technooptimist.io/crypto.md) (Bitcoin & mining)

## Programs

- [sBTC (bitcoin on Stacks)](https://technooptimist.io/crypto/sbtc.md) (Crypto): Deploy; next: Open, permissionless signer set. Live since Dec 2024, caps removed Sept 2025; ~2,441 BTC in the peg (Aug 2026), signers rotated Sept 2026.

## Technical approach

- **Anchoring: Blocks tied to Bitcoin**: Stacks state forks along with Bitcoin, so once a Bitcoin block is final, the Stacks transactions anchored to it are too.
- **sBTC: BTC held by threshold signers**: Deposited BTC sits in a wallet controlled by a signer group; 70% of them must approve every deposit and withdrawal.
- **Governance: Endowment funds a lean lab**: SIP-031 created the Stacks Endowment, which funds Stacks Labs to run core engineering, developer relations and partnerships.

## Open problems

- **Opening the signer set** (open): sBTC launched with 15 vetted institutional signers; moving to a permissionless set without weakening the peg is still ahead.
- **Winning BTC that prefers custody** (open): Most bitcoin stays in cold storage or custodial wrappers; sBTC's peg has shrunk since its 2025 peak.

## Latest updates

- **29 Sep 2026**: Stacks founder Muneeb Ali to become Stacks Labs CEO from October 15, replacing interim CEO Alex Miller. Ali, who founded Stacks in 2017, takes over the network's largest contributor after self-custodial Bitcoin staking launched in September 2026. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/stacks-founder-muneeb-ali-to-become-stacks-labs-ceo-from-october-15-5d7cf1ae.md) · [original source](https://thedefiant.io/news/people/muneeb-ali-stacks-labs-ceo-bitcoin-staking-growth-phase))
- **4 Sep 2026**: sBTC signer rotation completes: Ankr, The Tie and HashKey join the set. The rotation announced on August 6, 2026 finished with three new institutional operators running sBTC signer infrastructure. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/sbtc-signer-rotation-completes-ankr-the-tie-and-hashkey-join-the-set-eddb20ef.md) · [original source](https://www.stacks.co/blog/meet-the-new-sbtc-signers-ankr-the-tie-and-hashkey-join-the-set))
- **26 Aug 2026**: sBTC peg holds about 2,441 BTC, 51% below its June 2025 peak; 11 signer keys with 8 required. An exchange explainer read the sBTC contract on August 25, 2026: 2,441.3 sBTC outstanding, matching DefiLlama's count of BTC in the peg to within 0.0003 BTC. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/sbtc-peg-holds-about-2-441-btc-51-below-its-june-2025-peak-11-signer-d94a066f.md) · [original source](https://phemex.com/academy/what-is-sbtc-and-how-bitcoin-moves-onto-stacks))
- **8 Sep 2025**: sBTC deposit cap to be removed on Sept 16; minimum deposit cut tenfold to 0.001 BTC. Stacks Labs announced the end of the 5,000 BTC ceiling, allowing unrestricted inflows and outflows for users and institutions from September 16, 2025. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/sbtc-deposit-cap-to-be-removed-on-sept-16-minimum-deposit-cut-tenfold-2efe3267.md) · [original source](https://www.stacks.co/blog/sbtc-uncapping))
- **25 Nov 2024**: Stacks sets sBTC rollout: deposits from Dec 17 with a 1,000 BTC cap, withdrawals in early 2025. After testnet finished on Nov 22, the sBTC team set a phased mainnet launch. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/stacks-sets-sbtc-rollout-deposits-from-dec-17-with-a-1-000-btc-cap-6e9b0d36.md) · [original source](https://stacks.co/blog/sbtc-rollout))

## Partners, customers and investors

- Ankr (partner): Joined the sBTC signer set in the Aug–Sept 2026 rotation.
- HashKey Cloud (partner): sBTC signer from Sept 2026 and early participant in Stacks Bitcoin staking.
- The Tie (partner): Joined the sBTC signer set in Sept 2026.

## People

- Muneeb Ali, Founder of Stacks; Stacks Labs CEO from Oct 2026

---

The Techno Optimist tracks every frontier of technology, program by program: https://technooptimist.io/ (a Markdown version of any page: add .md to its URL; site map for agents: https://technooptimist.io/llms.txt).
Data API (JSON, realtime stream): https://technooptimist.io/developers. People read 5 pages free, then Reader $10/month; these Markdown pages are open to agents.