Stacks finished the third quarter of 2026 as the leading Bitcoin layer by DeFi total value locked (TVL), closing with $88.9 million, according to the source. It also recorded the highest user fees among Bitcoin layers, with applications generating $448,000 during the quarter.
Q3 leaderboard
The race at the top was competitive. Rootstock ended the quarter with $83.2 million in DeFi TVL, while Mezo reached $77.3 million. Stacks’ lead over Rootstock was $5.7 million.
On fees, Stacks’ $448,000 was more than double Hemi’s $208,000. Merlin followed with $181,000. Trading activity also increased toward the end of the quarter, with weekly volume on Stacks decentralized exchanges peaking at $16.7 million in late September 2026.
What drove the quarter
A major catalyst was the July 2026 launch of Bitcoin Staking on mainnet through the PoX-5 hard fork. The upgrade introduced yields funded by miners and paid out through set bonding periods. Approximately 735 BTC entered staking across the first two bonding periods after launch. STX staking rose to 493 million STX following PoX-5.
In early September, StackingDAO introduced stBTC, a liquid staking token representing staked Bitcoin that can still be moved and used elsewhere.
Lending dominates
By September 30, 2026, lending accounted for 92.1% of total DeFi TVL on Stacks, or $81.9 million. Zest Protocol held the dominant share of locked value at quarter-end, reporting deposits above $122 million and borrowed assets of $42 million.
Post-quarter reality check
By early November 2026, Stacks chain TVL had slipped to approximately $57 million. Counting liquid staking alongside core DeFi, the broader Stacks ecosystem reached approximately $123 million, even as the headline chain figure moved around.
Background: the Bitcoin layer contest
Bitcoin’s base layer is deliberately limited, which supports security but constrains complex financial applications like lending markets or token swaps. Stacks runs its own consensus mechanism while anchoring to Bitcoin, and it competes with networks such as Rootstock, Mezo, Hemi, and Merlin for the same pool of BTC holders.
What this means
The Q3 results indicate that native yield products can attract capital to Bitcoin layers. The July Bitcoin Staking launch coincided with Stacks climbing to the top spot, and roughly 735 BTC entering staking suggests demand for returns on idle Bitcoin.
Concentration is a clear risk. With lending at 92.1% of DeFi TVL and one protocol holding most of that, the ecosystem relies heavily on a single sector and a single application. The November decline to approximately $57 million also shows how quickly rankings can change; a $5.7 million lead over Rootstock at quarter-end offers little cushion when locked value can swing by tens of millions in weeks.
