The Stacks network has cleared a critical governance hurdle for its upcoming Bitcoin staking upgrade, with the on-chain vote concluding at approximately 99% approval according to co-founder Muneeb Ali. The result signals broad consensus among STX token holders for the protocol changes needed to enable native BTC staking functionality.

The proposal, known as SIP-021, introduces a mechanism that would allow STX holders to lock their tokens and earn bitcoin rewards directly from the base layer. This marks a significant evolution for Stacks, which has positioned itself as a smart contract layer secured by Bitcoin's proof-of-work consensus since its 2021 mainnet launch.

Ali confirmed the vote outcome in a social media post, noting that the supermajority threshold required for activation was comfortably exceeded. The governance process required a minimum 70% approval rate with sufficient participation, conditions that were met well before the voting window closed.

Major ecosystem participants have largely signaled operational readiness for the hard fork. Leading exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, and OKX have indicated support for the upgrade, alongside key infrastructure providers and wallet operators. However, a small number of partners remain in the final stages of technical review, which could slightly delay the coordinated activation timeline.

The upgrade has not yet activated on mainnet. Developers are now coordinating with exchange partners and node operators to finalize a block height for the fork, with an announcement expected in the coming days. This coordination phase is standard for Stacks hard forks, which require synchronized client upgrades across the network.