Anchorage Digital, home to the only federally chartered digital asset bank in the US, has announced its custody support for Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution.
Stacks is the first Bitcoin L2 supported by Anchorage Digital, “marking a significant step for institutional involvement in the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
Institutions can now securely custody the Stacks token (STX) “on the Anchorage Digital platform via Anchorage Digital Bank N.A.”
The new partnership is helping Bitcoin holders to “access capital, while safeguarding their holdings with industry-leading security and regulatory certainty at Anchorage Digital.”
Nathan McCauley, CEO and Co-Founder of Anchorage Digital said:
“Layer 2s like Stacks are advancing a new vision for the Bitcoin ecosystem—and institutions are taking notice. As the crypto ecosystem continues to expand, we are committed to providing safe, secure, and regulated access to innovative networks like Stacks. We’re pleased to offer access to qualified custody for Stacks via Anchorage Digital Bank N.A.”
Mitchell Cuevas, Executive Director at the Stacks Foundation said:
“Anchorage Digital and Stacks are deeply aligned on the idea that the new digital asset economy should be both accessible and safe. While we’ve approached making that a reality in dramatically different ways, we have found an intersection that enables institutions to do more with their Bitcoin.”
Anchorage Digital’s support for Stacks comes “at a time of increasing demand for Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions.”
Layer 2s are critical for enhancing the “scalability of the Bitcoin network, enabling faster and more cost-effective transactions while expanding the network’s utility.”
As Bitcoin becomes fully programmable, new use cases “will unlock latent capital estimated at around $800 billion.”
Market participants, including institutions, “recognize the opportunity presented by Bitcoin L2s. In Q1 of this year, Bitcoin L2s received $34.5 million, accounting for 19.7% of all L2 investments.”
This increased to $94.6 million in Q2, “representing 42.4% of L2 investments, representing 174% quarter-over-quarter growth, according to a recent report from Galaxy Digital.”
As noted in the update, Stacks is a Bitcoin L2 that “enables smart contracts and decentralized applications to use Bitcoin as a secure base layer.”
The 2024 Nakamoto and sBTC releases will “bring faster speeds and transactions backed by 100% Bitcoin finality.”
Stacks is the current leading Bitcoin L2 “by developer traction and market cap and is poised to help unlock Bitcoin and its $500B in passive capital as a fully programmable, productive asset.”
The Stacks (STX) token, used as gas on the L2, was “the first to undergo an SEC-qualified sale in the United States.”
The project explicitly decentralized with “the mainnet launch in 2021.”
In the Stacks ecosystem, there are currently 30+ contributing entities “including a non-profit Stacks Foundation, a developer tooling company Hiro, Xverse, Trust Machines, Mechanism, Bitcoin L2 Labs, ALEX, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, and more.”
