This week in sBTC

Dear Bitcoiners,

Can you feel it? The sentiment around Bitcoin is shifting. The confluence of institutional interest, regulatory clarity and developer resurgence has created tailwinds as we head into year end.

Given this, I believe now is the best time to be building in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitcoin L2s like Stacks can offer more flexibility for developers. When the Nakamoto upgrade goes live, it will significantly improve the speed and security of the network while providing the ability to transact BTC natively onchain.

I was recently asked “why does sBTC matter?” — this is a good question that’s worth reflecting on. Here’s my take:

Bitcoin is permissionless finance. It's an opportunity to democratize access to basic financial services. The problem is, when Bitcoin grows in popularity, network fees increase that can make the network prohibitively expensive except for whales and institutions. Bitcoin L2s ensure that everyone can transact on the world’s most secure network.

Bitcoin is the ability to opt out of a wildly unpredictable monetary policy and opt in to one that is reliable and stable. It is the best form of money available and sBTC provides new ways to be able to use and interact with it.

sBTC is needed to actually see a Bitcoin economy develop, where BTC is not just sitting idle but actually serving an important utility for businesses and users alike.

Why do you think sBTC is important? I’d love to hear from you.

- Andre

🔊 Call for sBTC Testers

The Stacks ecosystem is gearing up for the sBTC Developer Release, allowing select developers to build and test with an early version of sBTC. $50,000 in prizes are available for users to get involved. Sign up here.

✍️ New and Noteworthy: Stacks Thesis

Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital, published a Stacks thesis. This thorough report goes into the importance of Bitcoin scalability, the role of sBTC & the Nakamoto upgrade, and a deep-dive into the use cases and ecosystem.

Read the full post here

💡 Tweet of the Week

Marvin Janssen is a core protocol developer in the sBTC working group. He published a tweet thread highlighting the great work being done to deliver sBTC.