Stacks finished the third quarter of 2026 at the top of the Bitcoin layers, with $88.9 million in total value locked across its DeFi applications, compared with $83.2 million for Rootstock and $77.3 million for Mezo. Its applications also generated $448,000 in fees, the highest amount in the sector, while weekly trading volume on decentralized exchanges peaked at $16.7 million in late September. The launch of Bitcoin Staking on the mainnet in July 2026 through the PoX-5 upgrade brought in approximately 735 BTC during the first two bonding periods and pushed STX staking to 493 million STX. By September 30, lending accounted for 92.1% of Stacks’ DeFi TVL, or $81.9 million, with Zest Protocol leading the market. By early November, however, the chain’s TVL had fallen to approximately $57 million, while the broader ecosystem, including liquid staking, reached approximately $123 million.
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