Jack Paul 
Quarter-end standings
Stacks closed Q3 2026 with $88.9 million in DeFi total value locked. That put it ahead of Rootstock at $83.2 million and Mezo at $77.3 million. The gap over Rootstock was $5.7 million. Not huge, but enough to finish first.
Fees told a similar story. Apps on Stacks brought in $448,000 in user fees during the quarter. Hemi generated $208,000 and Merlin $181,000. Trading also picked up late in the quarter. Weekly DEX volume on Stacks peaked at $16.7 million in late September 2026.
Bitcoin staking launch
The main event came in July 2026, when Stacks launched Bitcoin Staking on mainnet through the PoX-5 hard fork. The upgrade added yields funded by miners and paid through set bonding periods. About 735 BTC entered staking across the first two bonding periods. STX staking rose to 493 million STX after PoX-5.
In early September, StackingDAO introduced stBTC, a liquid staking token for staked Bitcoin. That token can still be moved and used elsewhere. It added another piece to the yield story, though it also makes the numbers harder to compare across products.
Lending dominates
By September 30, 2026, lending made up 92.1% of DeFi TVL on Stacks, or $81.9 million. Zest Protocol held the dominant share of locked value at quarter-end. The protocol reported more than $122 million in deposits and $42 million in borrowed assets.
That concentration is worth watching. When one sector and one app carry most of the locked value, the headline TVL can move quickly if users pull back. A November check offers a reminder. By early November 2026, Stacks chain TVL had slipped to about $57 million. Counting liquid staking with core DeFi, the broader Stacks network reached about $123 million.
What the numbers show
Bitcoin’s base layer is limited by design, which leaves room for layers that add lending, trading and yield. Stacks competes with Rootstock, Mezo, Hemi and Merlin for the same BTC holders. The Q3 result suggests native yield products can pull in capital, perhaps because holders want returns on idle Bitcoin.
But rankings on Bitcoin layers can change fast. A $5.7 million lead at quarter-end is thin when TVL can swing by tens of millions in weeks. The Stacks quarter was strong, but the November drop shows why the next leaderboard may look different.