2024-04-23
After years of research and development, the Stacks Blockchain is undergoing a major overhaul. The much-anticipated upgrade, named Nakamoto, is the largest upgrade to the popular Bitcoin scaling layer to date.
It commenced at Bitcoin block height 840,360, marking the beginning of a two-step process that will conclude sometime in late May.
The Nakamoto upgrade aims to decouple the Stacks block production schedule from that of Bitcoin.
While the layer-2 network boasts a higher transaction throughput compared to Bitcoin, it initially faced congestion issues due to producing blocks at the same rate as Bitcoin. Muneeb Ali, the network's creator, explained this to Blocksky.
To address this challenge, Nakamoto introduces a new method of producing Stacks blocks by updating its unique proof-of-transfer consensus algorithm.
Starting now, new block "signers" will validate the "tenures" of transactions.
However, until the upgrade is fully activated in May, this process will primarily serve as a practice run, as stated by Stacks developers on X.
For casual users of Stacks, the developers recommend ensuring that they are using an updated wallet. In most cases, this update should occur automatically.
On the other hand, for those who stake their STX tokens, the activation of Nakamoto automatically unblocked those tokens on Monday.
These tokens can then be restaked once Nakamoto-compliant pools become available, which is expected to happen next week.
Presently, approximately $1.3 billion worth of STX tokens are staked on-chain, representing around one-third of the total circulating supply of $4.2 billion.
This makes Stacks one of the largest interest-earning pools of capital associated with Bitcoin.
As a result of the upgrade, the token has experienced a significant rally, with its value surging more than 16% to approximately $2.90 over the past 24 hours.
This surge has propelled Stacks into the top 25 tokens by market capitalization for the first time.
The Nakamoto upgrade marks a pivotal moment for the Stacks blockchain, as it seeks to address congestion issues and enhance the scalability and efficiency of its network.
With the successful implementation of this upgrade, Stacks aims to further establish itself as a leading player in the blockchain space, offering users a reliable and high-performance platform for decentralized applications and financial services.
