New Data Highlights Stacks as the Infrastructure Layer Powering Productive Bitcoin
Tenero, the multi-chain analytics platform for the Bitcoin ecosystem, today released its 2026 Growth Network Report, identifying Stacks as Bitcoin’s leading infrastructure layer for productive capital.
According to Tenero’s cross-chain data analysis, Bitcoin has entered a new phase of its lifecycle. For over a decade, Bitcoin functioned primarily as pristine collateral and, more recently, as an institutional treasury reserve asset accelerated by ETF adoption and corporate balance sheet accumulation. The emerging chapter, however, centers on productivity — enabling Bitcoin capital to generate onchain yield without compromising Bitcoin’s base-layer security model.
“Bitcoin’s macro legitimacy is no longer the question,” said the Tenero report. “The defining question of 2026 is how Bitcoin becomes productive. Our data shows Stacks sitting at the center of that shift.”
As a Bitcoin Layer 2 secured by Proof of Transfer (PoX), Stacks anchors its blocks to Bitcoin while enabling smart contracts and decentralized applications via Clarity, a security-focused smart contract language. Throughout 2025, this architecture matured into a fully operational Bitcoin DeFi infrastructure stack.
Tenero data shows the expansion of sBTC, Stacks’ 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset, reaching approximately $545 million in total value locked (TVL) across more than 7,400 holders, with over 62 BTC distributed in rewards since launch.
For the first time at scale, Bitcoin capital can move into productive applications while settling back to Bitcoin.
A defining milestone in 2025 was the launch of Dual Stacking, enabling Bitcoin holders to earn BTC-denominated rewards paid in sBTC through Stacks’ PoX consensus mechanism.
Participants can mint sBTC, enroll in Dual Stacking to earn base Bitcoin rewards, and amplify rewards by stacking STX or deploying capital into DeFi protocols. All rewards are distributed in sBTC, redeemable 1:1 for BTC.
Unlike traditional DeFi ecosystems reliant on inflationary token emissions, rewards are paid in Bitcoin. Tenero analysis shows that by the end of 2025, more than $100 million in sBTC and STX capital was actively participating in Dual Stacking, positioning it among the leading native Bitcoin yield strategies paying out in BTC.
“The demand signal is clear,” Tenero noted. “Bitcoin holders are seeking yield without abandoning Bitcoin’s security assumptions.”
Tenero’s report also highlights a wave of institutional integrations across 2025. Integrations that reduced operational friction for institutional allocators seeking productive Bitcoin exposure and positioned Stacks as production-ready infrastructure.
Onchain Growth Signals Ecosystem Strength
Throughout 2025, Tenero data showed approximately 20,000 average daily transactions, with peaks exceeding 40,000, around 1,600 daily active addresses, with milestone-driven surges, and growing DeFi activity across lending, stablecoin yield, and concentrated liquidity protocols
The Strategic Bitcoin Opportunity
If even a modest percentage of Bitcoin’s total market capitalization seeks onchain yield, the enabling infrastructure layer becomes strategically significant.
Tenero’s report concludes that Stacks has emerged as Bitcoin’s staking and productive capital layer — the longest-running Bitcoin-settled smart contract network with live BTC-denominated yield, institutional custody, stablecoin integration, cross-chain liquidity, and maturing governance. To read the full report, users can visit here.
“Stacks is not replacing Bitcoin,” Tenero summarized. “It is extending Bitcoin — transforming BTC from passive store of value into productive capital.”
About Tenero
Tenero is a multi-chain analytics platform focused on delivering transparent, institutional-grade data and research across the Bitcoin ecosystem. By tracking onchain activity, liquidity flows, protocol upgrades, and capital efficiency metrics, Tenero provides actionable intelligence for investors, builders, and institutions exploring the future of productive Bitcoin. For more information, users can visit tenero.io.
About Stacks
Stacks is the Bitcoin-secured smart contract layer where Bitcoin grows. It extends Bitcoin’s functionality without compromising settlement on Bitcoin L1, enabling Bitcoin staking and Bitcoin-native yield through its Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) consensus. The network has distributed over $500 million worth of BTC in rewards since launch. With upgrades including Nakamoto and the launch of sBTC, Stacks provides institution-ready infrastructure for scalable Bitcoin DeFi. Users can learn more at stacks.co.
