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- Bitcoin Writes: July Issue
Gm everyone,
Bitcoin summer is finally here. Don’t let the sideways market fool you - the “potential energy” stored in the Bitcoin ecosystem is positioning for explosive growth. The convergence of developer growth, technical innovation and regulatory tailwinds have laid the groundwork for a significant increase in adoption as we head into end of year.
Stacks is a key part of this, creating infrastructure to scale Bitcoin through layers. sBTC enables developers to build on Bitcoin and connect BTC to a growing network of decentralized applications. This newsletter breaks down everything you need to know happening across ecosystem.
Today's Issue 👇
😤 Stacks Receives No Action Letter from SEC
Hiro, the company that builds developer tools for Bitcoin and Stacks, shared on X that it has received a No Action letter from the SEC. This concluded a three year investigation into the Stacks cryptocurrency in the best possible outcome for the company.
Stacks was the first company to “come in and register” with the SEC as part of its Reg A+ token offering in 2019. At the time, this decision demonstrated the project's focus on building long-term as well as its commitment to doing things the right way.
👉 Why it matters: Bitcoin's leading L2 is now cleared by US regulators. As institutional interest in the category continues to grow, this sets Stacks apart as one of the few tokens in the US that’s SEC compliant.
💬 The bottom line: With all the scrutiny the industry has faced over the years, hopefully this sets a precedent against regulatory overreach and signals that the tides may be beginning to turn.
💯 Nakamoto 3.0 Milestone Is Code Complete
On Friday, Stacks developers celebrated another major achievement: The Nakamoto 3.0 milestone is now code complete.
The Nakamoto upgrade will improve the speed and security of the Stacks network, with features designed to make it the best place to build Bitcoin applications. With this release, it also clears the way for sBTC to launch shortly thereafter.
In April, Stacks released phase one of the upgrade, Nakamoto 2.5, which activated the Stacks Signer network. As of today, there are 35 geographically distributed signer nodes on the network with 375M STX stacked (worth over $600M at today’s valuations!).
👉Why it matters: Nakamoto is a ecosystem-wide effort to provide the best user and developer experience on Bitcoin. This milestone brings us one step closer toward to the final release date later this quarter.
🇺🇸 Bitcoin Enters Mainstream Politics
Bitcoin is the separation of money and state. It is inherently apolitical; and while this blog is politically neutral, it’s worth acknowledging the way that Bitcoin has entered mainstream politics over the past few months.
Last week, the Republican Party released its official 2024 platform that included the following embrace of crypto:
Republicans will end Democrats' unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control.
It is incredible that this pro-crypto stance would be supported by a major political party in the United States — another sign that the regulatory landscape is changing.
I also want to definitively state that it’s unfortunate to see the country delving into political violence. We are better than that and I hope that we can come together as a nation following this weekend’s incident.
🧑💻 Bitcoin Builders Conference: Register Here
For everyone coming to Nashville, make sure to register for the Bitcoin Builders Conference! You’ll hear from leaders across the Bitcoin ecosystem from companies like Trust Machines, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Spartan Group and more.
Yours truly will be there discussing sBTC, so if you are a founder looking to build on Bitcoin, I’d love to connect.
Until next time,
Andre