Stacks (STX) Nears $1 as Bitcoin L2 DeFi Hype Goes Mainstream
Bitcoin’s layer-2 breakout star surges 40% in a week—traders chase the ’real yield’ narrative while ignoring the irony of rebuilding Ethereum-style finance atop BTC.
DeFi degens pivot from NFT JPEGs to STX yield farms as Stacks’ TVL doubles. The protocol now locks over $100M in Bitcoin-backed assets, proving even maximalists crave leverage.
Analysts warn the rally hinges on Bitcoin L2s escaping their ’ghost chain’ phase—because nothing screams adoption like 12% APY for wrapping your BTC yet again.
Stacks uptrend steady as liquidity accelerates the DeFi ecosystem
Bitcoin sidechains have been performing impressively in the last few weeks, led by Stacks, the largest chain in the ecosystem. STX value is up more than 80% since its April low of $0.47, mirroring a broader bullish sentiment in the cryptocurrency market, which saw Bitcoin briefly return above $94,000 on Wednesday.
Based on on-chain data shared by the Stacks team on X, the growth in the price of STX can be attributed to investor interest in DeFi products, among other key factors.
liquidity in the stacks defi ecosystem is accelerating:
- 3k sbtc already on stacks - on track to become the #1 bitcoin l2 by btc supply
- stablecoin market cap surged 400% in q1, crossing $12M+
- new tvl record for stx being liquid stacked unlocking more stx capital pic.twitter.com/0mj3CWL9I4
For instance, the protocol’s stablecoins market capitalization surged by more than 400% to nearly $6 million. As the chart below shows, Stacks is the third-largest protocol in this sector behind Cronos and Morph.
Stacks stablecoin market capitalization : Source: CryptoRank
Institutional interest in the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to fuel Stacks’ growth, supported by significant developments like Grayscale launching the STX Trust Fund. Select cryptocurrency exchanges such as crypto.com currently offer STX staking, allowing investors to lock their tokens to earn rewards. The increase in staking balance suggests investor confidence is growing amid heightened market activity.
institutions recognize that stacks is the leading bitcoin l2:
- jump, utxo, snz, and others invested in sbtc
- grayscale launched the stx trust fund
- exchanges like crypto(.)com offer stx stacking
- enterprise-grade validators with billions in aum support stacks as signers pic.twitter.com/K5v0MZDui3
Stacks is back in the green based on monthly returns data compiled by CryptoRank. After recording declines in the first three months: -13.5% in January, -37.4% in February and -27.1% in March, Stacks returns in April stand at more than 44%, breaking a pattern of negative returns observed in the same month for three consecutive years.
Stacks monthly returns (USD) | Source: CryptoRank
The derivatives market reinforces STX’s growth, with Open Interest (OI) increasing 25.63% to $73.26 million in the last 24 hours. Subsequently, the surge in the volume by 54.4% to approximately $283 million could confirm the heightened market activity and trader confidence in the token.
Stacks derivatives data | Source | Coinglass
Stacks price jumps, closing in on $1
Stacks’ price hovers at $0.88 at the time of writing, as bulls battle resistance at $0.90, highlighted by the 12-hour 200 Exponential Moving Average (EMA). An upward-moving Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator overbought at 78.56 signals strong bullish momentum. This bullish outlook and rising trading volume uphold STX’s potential to climb above the next crucial resistance at $1.00.
STX/USDT 12-hour chart
The broader sentiment in the cryptocurrency market is expected to remain positive on Friday, bolstered by Bitcoin’s move above $93,000. However, the overbought conditions, especially for STX, could slow the uptrend, possibly resulting in a reversal ahead of the weekend. Hence, traders could keep key levels such as the green dotted descending trendline, the 100 EMA at $0.70, and the 50 EMA at $0.66 in mind as potential support areas in case of a larger retracement.
Cryptocurrency prices FAQs
How do new token launches or listings affect cryptocurrency prices?
Token launches influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.
How do hacks affect cryptocurrency prices?
A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.
How do macroeconomic releases and events affect cryptocurrency prices?
Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence crypto assets mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.
How do major crypto upgrades like halvings, hard forks affect cryptocurrency prices?
Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs.
