Stacks (STX) surges despite BTC sell-off pressure

Stacks (STX), the Bitcoin Layer-2 network for smart contracts and dApps, has surged by more than 8% in 24 hours as Bitcoin price held above $61k

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Apart from meme coin Pepe, Stacks is the biggest gainer among top 50 coins by market cap. While PEPE is seeing gains of nearly 9% and trading around $0.00001264 at the time of writing, STX is hovering near $1.80.

CoinGecko data shows the Bitcoin L2’s native token reached an intraday high of $1.82.

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STX traded lower on June 24 when BTC dumped to under $60k amid huge sell-off pressure. The altcoin is up as Bitcoin extends its bounce above the psychological level with gains to $61.5k.

The slightly positive sentiment comes as the US spot Bitcoin ETFs market saw net inflows of $31 million to break a 7-day streak of outflows. The market is also likely moving away from the initial reaction to the Mt.Gox repayments news.

However, there’s still some downside pressure around the flagship crypto asset given a wallet linked to the German government continues to sell BTC.

On Wednesday, Lookonchain shared details that showed the German government had transferred another 750 BTC worth $46.3 million to exchanges. Recent transfers included 1,700 last week and 450 BTC earlier this week, which has added to sell-off pressure.

If Bitcoin price drops again, STX price could mirror the decline. On the upside, a bull market flip would help the Bitcoin L2’s price.

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Analysts are bullish on crypto markets bouncing higher after what may be a summer lull. In this case, Stacks’ growth amid increased traction for decentralized finance (DeFi) on Bitcoin could be a key catalyst for STX.

In a recent comment, Zest Protocol co-founder Tycho Onnasch Stacks’ important role in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

According to Onnasch, the OG blockchain network needs a layer-2 network “to unlock” its full economy. Stacks is set to be that L2, particularly after the Nakamoto upgrade. When the full activation rolls in, a fully programmable Bitcoin will explode in terms of DeFi, NFTs, games and much more.

Currently, the platform rewards STX stakers with native Bitcoin (BTC) yield. Long term STX holders are increasingly stacking their STX tokens to earn BTC as they help secure the L2 network. Stacks recently announced that stakers have received more than 40 BTC in the last cycles.

DeFiLlama data shows the total value locked (TVL) on the Stacks network is more than $122 million or over 68.3 million STX.