Stacks in 2025: Bitcoin Layer 2 Grows Up — sBTC, DeFi, and What’s Next

🚀 Stacks in 2025: Bitcoin DeFi Gets Serious

Forget “hodl and pray.” Bitcoin is finally getting a DeFi toolkit — and Stacks wants to be the Layer 2 where it happens.

At the April Town Hall, Stacks core devs and ecosystem leaders laid out how they’re scaling sBTC, boosting liquidity, and unlocking Bitcoin’s untapped potential — all without compromising on decentralization.

Here’s the breakdown of how Stacks plans to win 2025.

🪙 sBTC: The Beating Heart of Bitcoin DeFi

More than 3,000 BTC already deployed.
But that’s just the start.

Stacks is making it easier to use sBTC — the network’s native Bitcoin Layer 2 asset — across lending, stablecoins, and payments. Key upgrades coming soon:

• Pay gas fees directly in sBTC
• Deeper integration across the Stacks ecosystem
• Simpler bridges and more stablecoin options

It’s all about making Bitcoin useful, not just stashed.

📈 DeFi Without the Middlemen (But With the Security)

Stacks’ DeFi roadmap focuses on trustless lending, yield-bearing BTC, and bringing in capital without relying on centralized custodians.

Rena Shah and Andre Serrano from Trust Machines and Bitcoin L2 Labs shared the vision:

“Bitcoin should work harder for you. DeFi lets it do that — without giving up self-custody.”

The goal? Bitcoin-powered DeFi that doesn’t feel like DeFi 1.0 chaos.

🤖 Enter AI: Making DeFi Usable for Humans

Forget clunky UX and scary smart contracts. Stacks is tapping AI-powered interfaces to make interacting with DeFi as easy as talking to your phone:

• Smart wallets that “understand” what you want
• Text and voice commands for DeFi actions
• Secure automation without losing custody

Think: GPT meets your crypto wallet — but on Bitcoin.

🎨 NFTs and Creator Tools: Bridging Stacks and Bitcoin

Gamma.io rolled out Explore — a feature to track trending NFTs and real-time activity across Stacks and Bitcoin.

It’s not just about JPEGs. It’s about building a bridge between Bitcoin’s core community and the creative economy.

💥 Builders Wanted: Stacks Ascent Program

No good idea left behind.

The Stacks Ascent program gives devs the fuel to go from hackathon project to funded startup — with grants, mentorship, and investor connections baked in.

It’s the network’s way of saying: "Builders matter."

🧠 Muneeb Ali on Bitcoin’s Next Chapter

Closing the Town Hall, Stacks founder Muneeb Ali laid out the big picture:

“Bitcoin has always been about freedom and security. Now it’s time to make it work harder for people — with scalability, usability, and real-world access.”

⚡ TL;DR

• sBTC is on track to become the backbone of Bitcoin DeFi
• Stablecoins, lending, and trustless trading are next on the roadmap
• AI-powered DeFi interfaces could make Bitcoin DeFi as simple as talking to Siri
• Builders and community remain at the center of Stacks’ strategy

Stacks isn’t just betting on Bitcoin’s future.
They’re building it — Layer 2 by Layer 2, block by block.