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The reason I'm Still Bullish on Stacks 🧵 After my last post, some community members have asked "Have you become skeptical about Stacks?" So I answered No. Why should I when everything I've dreamed of is finally emerging? @Stacks is a project that has grown honestly and consistently. The main reason I've voluntarily contributed to the Stacks project over 5 years, since they were blockstack is their attitude towards the crypto scene and their ability to achieve what they set out to do. What Stacks has accomplished so far is unmatched by other similar projects. 1. The completion of two major upgrades: Nakamoto and sBTC I can say "Stacks before and after these two updates is like dividing history into BC and AD." The genesis is just being written. Fast blocks and BTC utilization are what all on-chain users have been yearning for. The Nakamoto upgrade accelerated Stacks blocks, while other minor updates improved block consistency. And also stacks network completed 500% network capacity upgrade recently. And the other minor updates are still ongoing. The network status will continue to steadily improve in the future. Every time I use the network, I feel grateful to the core developers who accomplished this work. I remember one of the developers said to me: "Hey other Bitcoin Layer 2s, If Bitcoin development looks that easy, try it. It's not easy at all." Salute again to all of core devs and @hirosystems @BitcoinL2Labs 2. Strong demand proof for sBTC and future landscape restructuring sBTC reached its 1,000 BTC issuance cap in just 3 days. This is monumental. While some community members compare it to Bitcoin deposit speed in Babylon or Solv, I think we should view Stacks in a different category. Most users are driven by financial incentives, so that projects not TGE'ed yet receive the most hype. This kind of capital is more like a Opportunistic capital aiming for 'financial incentives' rather than 'Bitcoin utilization'. True demand is proven by how many valid users remain after the protocol has been around for some time. (I have no intention of disparaging the mentioned projects. I also have deposited funds in both protocols) So what I really want to emphasize is that we should focus on 'who will be the final winner in long-term Bitcoin L2 utilization.' Users shouldn't be distracted by short-term BTC deposit volumes and FOMOed. While numerous Bitcoin L2s and restaking protocols are emerging in the current cycle, the next cycle will clearly be one where only the winners survive. the layers without valid users will be dead consequentially. From this perspective, Stacks successfully deposited 1,000 BTC in just 3 days, demonstrating real demand despite relatively small financial incentives. Notably, @ZestProtocol boosted its TVL by depositing 400 sBTC, @VelarBTC , @ALEXLabBTC , @bitflow are also seeing significant benefits. In essence, We're witnessing users' desire to actually use Bitcoin on the Stacks chain, rather than just chasing rewards. We should focus Growth without retreat. Not a short term view. I believe that after this cycle of new Bitcoin L2 explosion ends, the next cycle will be dominated by 1-2 Bitcoin L2 layers that are already too strong for any new chain to compete with, like today's Solana. At that point, Stacks is likely to be a candidate with the largest market share. 3. Potential Dapps and developer support While I mentioned in my previous post that too many users are getting tired of point farming, this doesn't necessarily need to be viewed negatively. If dApps gain traction and show good performance, this could lead to even better results like a compressed spring. Stacks has successfully onboarded promising developers like Velar and BitFlow in the past 1-2 years. They're becoming core pillars of the Stacks ecosystem today and working harder than anyone else. The foundation's efforts to actively support developers (@easya_app , @LearnWeb3, BitcoinFi accelerator, Buidlbattle and etc) are also noticeable. Like BitFlow and Velar in this cycle(I personally call them 2nd generation dapps) we'll see many more promising dApps in the next cycle. (Hi @GraniteBTC , @bsdmoney , @Hamiltonbtc 👋) Additionally, with many upcoming initiatives aimed at addressing programming languages that were previously seen as barriers, this trend is expected to gain even more momentum. 4. Above all, the community. This is actually the point I want to emphasize the most. Stacks has the healthiest community I've seen in any chain. There are voluntary volunteers and users who are always first to use new dApps. Despite Stacks having a somewhat different token standard with SIP-10 and some inconveniences in access, they believe in the future of Bitcoin L2 as pioneers and support it more strongly than anyone else. They debate in public spaces and encourage each other. While diverse voices are emerging in the community recently, I firmly believe this ultimately strengthens Stacks. Everyone loves Stacks like their own child, which is why they want to use the rod of discipline; no one is trying to harm the ecosystem's health. I chat with about 10,000 YouTube subscribers and 2,000+ active chatters in my personal Telegram, exchanging over 1,000+ messages daily about the Stacks ecosystem, sometimes discussing disappointments, sometimes joys, but they fundamentally believe in and support this project more than anyone else. ps: he post I wrote was just an attempt to summarize community concerns that I believe we as an ecosystem can overcome in 2025, and was by no means intended to create anxiety within the project and community. My faith in Stacks still remains strong 💪 Bitcoin must be flow, and we are so early 🟧