Stacks has filled its second Bitcoin staking bond. Bond 2 reached capacity with 505 $BTC enrolled alongside 6.7 million $STX. It has already paid participants 1.21 $BTC in rewards.
What Bond 2 actually is
Bond 2 is the second staking bond launched under Stacks’ PoX-5 upgrade. PoX, short for Proof of Transfer, is the consensus system used by Stacks.
The bond had an approximate capacity of 500 $BTC. It reached capacity by October 12, 2026, with 505 $BTC enrolled alongside more than 6.7 million $STX.
Bond 2 targets an annualized yield of around 3%, paid in $BTC and funded by Stacks miners’ earnings. The bonds run for six months, with rewards distributed weekly. Participants must also stake a small amount of $STX, roughly 5% of the value of the $BTC they commit.
Liquid staking did most of the heavy lifting
The most telling figure in the sellout is not the headline total of 505 $BTC, but the approximately 483 $BTC deposited through Stacking DAO’s liquid staking product, stBTC.
This means most of Bond 2’s capacity came through a liquid wrapper rather than direct staking. According to the research findings, the Xverse pool also helped drive participation.
In practice, stBTC holders continue earning bond rewards while using their position elsewhere in Stacks DeFi. One example cited is borrowing USDC on Zest Protocol without unstaking the $BTC.
This concentration has a downside, too. When one product channels nearly all of a bond’s deposits, that product’s health becomes a significant factor for the overall program.
How it compares to the Genesis Bond
Bond 2 follows the Genesis Bond, launched on September 10. The first bond distributed 0.28 $BTC in its first two weeks after launch.
Bond 2 has paid out 1.21 $BTC in rewards so far.
A total of 735 $BTC has now entered Bitcoin staking on Stacks across both bonds. Bond 2 accounts for most of that amount on its own.
Stacks founder Muneeb Ali said the on-chain staking mechanism is working as intended. He also indicated that more capacity may be offered in future cycles.
The PoX-5 backdrop
The bonds are built on the PoX-5 hard fork, which went live on July 30. Since then, total $STX staked has increased by more than 25%, from 392 million to 493 million $STX.
Decentralized exchange volumes and holdings of synthetic Bitcoin on Stacks, known as sBTC, reached year-high levels in Q3 2026.
The Genesis Bond also reportedly attracted attention from institutional investors.
What this means for Bitcoin holders and Stacks
The roughly 3% figure is a target, not a guarantee. It depends on what Stacks miners earn, so the actual return could vary with network activity and broader market conditions.
For $STX holders, the structure creates steady demand. Each $BTC committed to a bond requires $STX alongside it, at roughly 5% of the $BTC value. Bond 2 alone paired with 6.7 million $STX.
Liquid staking made a six-month lockup usable as collateral, and that appears to be what filled the bond so quickly. It also adds layers between the depositor and the underlying $BTC, with each layer creating another point where something could go wrong.
What to watch next: whether a third bond launches with greater capacity, how much of it flows through stBTC again, and whether actual payouts match the 3% target over the full six-month term.
