Q1 2026 Quarterly Report

Q1 2026 was a quarter of deliberate focus. The Treasury Committee aligned on Bitcoin Staking as the primary strategic priority and directed resources accordingly. Alongside that, the Endowment secured its financial runway, launched its first Ecosystem Grants cycle, made meaningful progress across payments and liquidity, and began building the infrastructure to attract the next generation of serious builders to Stacks.

2026 priorities at a glance

Treasury and financial position

The Endowment successfully completed its runway extension target in Q1. The Treasury Committee finalized a $7M reduction in annualized spend, established Bitcoin-backed credit lines at favorable rates to reduce near-term STX sell pressure, and secured a 24-month operating runway at current prices. The treasury is valued approximately at $30M at FMV. The treasury also expects to receive an additional ~62M STX from SIP-031 emissions by end of 2026. One incident was disclosed during the quarter: a net loss of approximately $600K (primarily $490K aeUSDC) arising from Velar. An incident thread was published, all reasonable recovery efforts were made, and the loss has informed updated asset deployment guidelines going forward.

Transparency is a core commitment of the Endowment. In Q1 we launched the SIP-031 Monthly Treasury Emissions Tracker, a public-facing tool that lets anyone follow the Endowment's token emissions schedule in real time. It is the first of many tools the Endowment intends to build to give the community clear, accessible visibility into treasury operations.

SIP-031 Monthly Treasury Emissions TrackerA live public tool tracking the Endowment's monthly token emissions schedule as required under SIP-031. Built and maintained by the Endowment as part of its ongoing commitment to treasury transparency.View the tracker at stackssip031.info →

Bitcoin Staking

The TC designated Bitcoin Staking as the primary strategic priority for 2026, with all resources across Stacks Labs, the Endowment, and the broader ecosystem directed toward it. The core thesis is that STX is the asset you hold to earn yield on your Bitcoin, without custody risk, bridging, or cross-chain exposure. Stacks is the only place in the world where this is actually possible.

Milestones

• The testnet launch and whitepaper publication are targeted for later in Q2 2026.
• Mainnet launch is targeted for early H2 2026.
• Institutional partner engagement is underway with outreach to counterparties in progress.

Technical roadmap

100x chain capacity

The goal is to enable millions of daily transactions on Stacks. Clarity WASM development is underway, with significant performance improvements expected at launch. Core blockchain mechanic improvements were shipped in Q1 and the scaling roadmap was published for community visibility.

Developer experience

The goal is developer experience on par with top L1s and L2s. Clarity 5 is in progress. Updates shipped in Q1 cover the Clarinet toolchain, Stacks.js, mobile libraries (Kotlin and Swift), Extended API, and Chainhooks.

AI-agent-first infrastructure

The goal is for AI agents to interact with Stacks as easily as humans can. Initial documentation scoping and API hook design began in Q1. Four teams funded through the grants cohort are building this infrastructure directly.

Fast and private payments

The goal is fast, cheap, and private Bitcoin payments on Stacks. Q1 brought two concrete steps forward on the infrastructure side.

• USDCx live on Allbridge Core - enabling Stacks-based stablecoin payments to move crosschain to major ecosystems. Users can now originate a stablecoin payment on Stacks and route it seamlessly to other chains, opening up real-world payment and DeFi use cases that were not previously possible.‍

• sBTC bridge redesign - The sBTC bridge is undergoing a redesign focused on making Bitcoin movement onto Stacks significantly more user friendly, taking inspiration from the clean and accessible experience of the USDCx bridge. A smoother onramp for BTC is foundational to everything else the ecosystem is building.

Three payments teams funded in Grants Cycle 1 are building on top of this infrastructure, working on merchant flows, micropayments, and streaming payments primitives that will make Bitcoin genuinely usable for commerce on Stacks.

Liquidity deployment

A healthy DeFi ecosystem needs deep, reliable liquidity. In Q1 the Endowment began actively deploying capital alongside institutional LP partners, seeding the protocols that make borrowing, trading, and yield generation possible on Stacks. This work combines direct Endowment treasury capital with coordinated institutional liquidity to build meaningful depth across the ecosystem.

• Lending protocols - Capital is being seeded into Stacks-based lending protocols to bootstrap borrow and supply markets for USDCx and USDH, giving users and developers a functional credit layer to build on.

• Decentralized exchanges - Liquidity is being deployed across Stacks DeFi apps to tighten spreads, reduce slippage, and support the token pairs that matter most to the ecosystem's activity.

• Bitflow HodlMM - An onchain market maker has been onboarded to Bitflow's HodlMM, bringing professional liquidity management to one of Stacks' core DEX products and improving execution quality for traders.

This work is ongoing. The Endowment will continue to evaluate deployment opportunities that strengthen the Stacks DeFi ecosystem's depth and resilience.

Builder growth: Stacks Foundry

Building on Bitcoin should be as accessible as building anywhere else, and the teams doing it should be the best in the world. To get there, the Endowment is launching the Stacks Foundry: a dedicated environment designed to make Stacks more attractive and accessible to established, experienced teams who are ready to build serious products on Bitcoin.

• Build - A structured home for experienced teams to ground their product in the Stacks ecosystem with real support from day one.
• Feedback - Fast, direct feedback loops with the community, the Endowment, and ecosystem partners so teams can iterate quickly and build what matters.

The Foundry is designed for teams that need the right environment, the right connections, and a clear path to resources. More details on the program structure and how to apply will be shared in Q2.

Ecosystem Grants: Cycle 1

Every application was reviewed against three criteria: team strength and execution track record, early product validation, and clear differentiation. Demonstrated progress was weighted heavily. Budget constraints meant hard choices, and they were made deliberately.

Teams not selected in Cycle 1 who applied in high-priority categories will have applications automatically carried forward to Cycle 2. Developer tooling is being actively refined as a track for Q2. The DeGrants community and culture program is being redesigned for relaunch in late H1 2026, with community stewards replacing centralized committee decision-making.

Governance and Operations

Treasury Committee Q1 meeting

The TC held its Q1 2026 meeting on March 11, 2026, with a quorum of Treasury Committee members in attendance.

Key decisions from the meeting:

• Bitcoin Staking was designated as the singular primary strategic priority for 2026.
• A $7M reduction in annualized spend was aligned with a 24-month runway floor.
• The Chief Investment Officer search was paused and the decision was communicated publicly.
• The committee agreed to evaluate DGrants Cohort 3 outcomes before launching Cohort 4.
• A financial check-in was completed in April once February and March financials were closed.

Looking ahead: Q2 2026

This report is published pursuant to SIP-031, which requires the Stacks Endowment to provide quarterly progress reports against annual goals and priorities. The next quarterly report will cover Q2 2026 (April through June) and will be published following the Q2 Treasury Committee meeting.