Bitcoin Remains King
Since January 3, 2009 with the mining of the first Bitcoin block, BTC has been king. In 2024, Bitcoin showed why it has earned the crown. From $44,000 in January to finally punching through the $100,000 threshold on December 4th, Bitcoin has roared back in 2024.
In the past year, Bitcoin has been through a lot:
- It went through the 4th Bitcoin halving, reducing coinbase emissions from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
- The first Bitcoin ETFs were approved, and in their first year, these ETFs passed more than 500,000 BTC in cumulative net inflows.
- The Bitcoin layers landscape exploded, from a handful of projects driving innovation on Bitcoin to dozens.
- Bitcoin Runes launched, continuing the wave of revitalized experimentation on Bitcoin.
Today Bitcoin holds a comfortable 57% market share in Web3, and when Bitcoin moves, the rest of the market responds. All eyes remain on Bitcoin, even after 15 years, which makes Bitcoin one of the most compelling opportunities for builders.
Major Upgrades for Stacks
To remain competitive with the influx of new Bitcoin layers, Stacks has focused on shipping major changes to the network in 2024. On October 28th, Stacks core devs shipped the Nakamoto upgrade, which brought improved transaction throughput and 100% Bitcoin finality to Stacks.
Then earlier this week, sBTC launched on Stacks, and in just a few days users have already deposited 929 BTC into the bridge. sBTC is a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset that enables users to deploy their BTC in DeFi applications. Today, the bridge is backed by some of the most reputable institutions in Web3, including Figment, Blockdaemon, Kiln, Chorus One, Asymmetric Research, and more. Over time, the sBTC bridge will evolve into a design that is not only supported by these institutions, but by an open membership of rotating participants. sBTC will become an open, permissionless network, just like Bitcoin.
2024 also brought a handful of other notable improvements, including:
- Resetting Stacks testnet on a new Bitcoin testnet for better stability
- Multisig improvements that make multisig much friendlier to users and devs
- Strengthening the economic incentives for the Stacks network
Alongside these network improvements, Stacks builders have been busier than they’ve ever been. In 2024, Stacks was the 7th fastest growing developer community in Web3, putting it in pole position as the leading Bitcoin layer.
All Time High Usage in Hiro Tools
With the increased throughput on Stacks and an exploding interest in Bitcoin layers, Stacks usage went up. We’ve been heads down to make sure that all of our developer tooling can meet that demand. And we’ve set new all-time records in almost every metric, including:
- The Stacks Blockchain API set a new all-time high in monthly requests with 554M+.
- Clarinet downloads set a new all-time high in monthly downloads with 4,000+.
- Stacks.js transaction package installs set a new all-time high in monthly downloads with 250,000+.
- The Hiro Platform set a new record in monthly active users with 221 devs.
Shipping With Velocity
Alongside that record usage, we shipped several major releases in 2024, adding new functionality to our tools and making them even easier to use, and even launching new tools altogether. In the summer, we released Clarity Playground, a new online REPL environment where you can easily write, run, and share code in the browser. We also launched support for Bitcoin Runes with our Runes API.
Alongside those new tools, we rolled out major changes to the Hiro Platform, including:
- Totally revamping onboarding
- Launching an API portal where you can generate and manage API keys
- Integrating devnet for faster feedback loops and testing
- Introducing programmatic API access to devnet and chainhooks for powerful automation opportunities
- Shipping contract monitoring so you can configure customizable alerts for your contracts
- And much more
One core area we focused on in 2024 was providing data and transparency to the Stacks ecosystem, and specifically around the network changes. To that end, we rolled out a number of new features in the Stacks Explorer, including new token holder pages, a new signer page, new search filters, and a new design to accommodate the Nakamoto upgrade’s fast blocks.
We also shipped Stacks.js v7—the first major release to Stacks.js in years—which introduced easier debugging capabilities and a more intuitive and consistent experience. Lastly, we updated the Token Metadata API to use Chainhook in the backend, bringing better performance, reorg-resistance, and dynamic monitoring of high-volume events. For a more comprehensive view of everything we shipped this year, check out our monthly release roundups.
Enabling You to Build
It’s not enough to ship new tools and features. We also need to teach devs how to use them. In 2024, we put content and education as key pillars of our strategy. We launched an entirely new documentation platform, complete with a revamped information hierarchy and design, new quickstart and installation guides, and much more.
We also published 86 blog posts and 32 videos covering a wide range of subject matter, including coding tutorials, interviews with builders, deep dives on different topics in Web3, and more.
See You in 2025
We’re looking forward to a bigger and better year in 2025 and continuing to provide you with all of the tools and resources you need to build on the leading Bitcoin layer. Until then, happy holidays and happy new year!