STX poised for long-term growth following Nakamoto upgrade 

Stacks, a Bitcoin layer-2 solution, is currently gaining attention as its latest developments point to significant long-term growth potential.

Following the last Nakamoto upgrade on October 29, 2024, which promised faster transactions and greater scalability for Stacks (STX), the network experienced an increase in activity, according to data from Artemis.

According to CEX.IO analysts, Stacks’ active addresses increased by 97% and transactions increased by 94%. The Nakamoto upgrade also lays the groundwork for the upcoming sBTC release, a feature that will allow smart contracts tied to Bitcoin (BTC).

sBTC will address Bitcoin’s previous limitations in the space by facilitating DeFi functions on the network. This could make Stacks a major player in Bitcoin’s growing DeFi space, which has already seen over 770% growth in 2024, according to the analysis.

However, despite doubling this year, Stacks has not grown as much as other Bitcoin L2 solutions in terms of total value locked. For example, Core’s TVL rose faster, while emerging platforms such as Merlin Chain and Bitlayer achieved faster gains.

STX price action

In terms of price action, analysts at CEX.IO reveal that STX is showing promising signs following the Nakamoto upgrade. The token’s value recently increased by 11% and revisited a month-long resistance level.

The analysis revealed that weekly indicators are offering further bullish signs despite some fluctuations in momentum on the four-hour chart indicating potential short-term corrections that could support the $0.75 and $0.70 levels.

Notably, STX is down 6.69% in the last 24 hours and is trading at $1.71 at the time of writing. This correction follows a recent rally to $1.9 on October 29 and follows a broader market pullback. Stacks also fell by 6.79% this October.

STX price | Source: crypto.news

Meanwhile, according to the CEX.IO report, both STX and BTC recently formed a MACD uptrend; This signal often triggers long-term uptrends and STX has a high price correlation with Bitcoin.

But CEX.IO’s Chief Analyst Illia Otychenko argues that STX often experiences larger price fluctuations, often five to six times larger, given its relatively small market size. This trend continued with BTC gaining 172% in the first phase of the ongoing bull run and STX gaining 739% in the same time frame.

While Bitcoin is predicted to reach $200,000 by Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, STX could register a major uptrend if it repeats this pattern. If a recovery gains momentum, the first major resistance level could reach $2,033.