Weekly SIP Call #155 – Call recap | Fri, 12 Dec 2025

SIP Weekly SIP call
1

Date: December 12, 2025, at 10:30 AM Eastern Time [Add to calendar]

Hosted by: Guest: Rena COO at Stacks Endowment Host: HeroGamer; Haddy.btc; PeaceLoveMusic; 3hunna; GPSC

Duration: ~1hr 20minutes

Recording:
Watch on X https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1zqJVdOoRwDKB?s=20 Starting 3:01:20 - 4:19:45 or
watch on DeOrganized Media’s Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoHGaQgHb0I

1. Agenda Overview

  • Stacks Endowment Treasury Update by Rena
  • Rebooting Grants Program in January 2026
  • Organizational Structure Clarification
  • Technical Roadmap & Ecosystem Growth
  • CIO Search & Treasury Management
  • Community Engagement & Governance/SIP

2. Key Meeting Highlights

Stacks Endowment Treasury Update by Rena

  • Budget Insights: A $27 million budget has been approved for 2026, reflecting the need for financial prudence in light of current economic conditions. However, there is optimism that this budget could be increased if the macroeconomic environment improves by the first or second quarter of the year.
  • DeFi Focus: With $25 million STX working capital allocated for DeFi deployment, the focus is on enhancing operational efficiency. This includes managing trade spreads and minimizing slippage, particularly through support for Bitflow’s concentrated liquidity model, which aims to optimize capital use within the ecosystem.
  • Transparency Goals: The endowment is committed to transparency, offering a detailed pie chart of spending allocations. Additionally, plans are underway to develop an on-chain treasury dashboard in 2026, providing the community with clear insights into financial operations.

Rebooting Grants Program in January 2026

  • Grant Categories:
    1. Essential Grants: These are designed to support critical areas such as liquidity mining, user acquisition, and high-impact integrations, ensuring that foundational elements of the ecosystem are well-funded.
    2. Starter Grants: Aimed at fostering innovation, these grants will support new projects in achieving proof of concept and product-market fit, encouraging fresh ideas and solutions.
    3. Community Choice: Through a DeGrants style program, the community will have the opportunity to select projects that focus on social, cultural, and educational initiatives, ensuring diverse development within the ecosystem.
  • Security Initiative:
    • Recognizing the importance of security, funding has been allocated for audits of major DeFi protocols like Zest, Bitflow, and Hermetica. This initiative aims to safeguard user funds and maintain trust in the ecosystem.

Organizational Structure Clarification

  • Entities Explained:
    • The Stacks Endowment serves as the financial foundation, managing all treasury funds. It operates as a Cayman Islands foundation, ensuring strategic financial management.
    • Stacks Labs, wholly owned by the endowment, is the innovation hub led by CEO Alex Miller. It focuses on driving technological advancements and operational efficiency.
    • Governance is handled separately by the Stacks Foundation, ensuring that the SIP process and governance oversight remain independent, providing necessary checks and balances.

Technical Roadmap & Ecosystem Growth

  • Technical Roadmap:
    • The finalization of sBTC features is a priority, with a focus on:
      • enabling self-custodial minting
      • facilitating payments
      • enhancing privacy features.
    • Privacy R&D is actively being pursued to improve Bitcoin transaction confidentiality, aligning with the broader goal of enhancing user privacy.
    • Dual staking opportunities are being explored where users can earn yield on both Bitcoin (L1) and Stacks (L2) at the same time.
  • Ecosystem growth & distribution::
    • Efforts are underway to deepen liquidity and enhance user incentives, making the ecosystem more attractive to both new and existing users.
    • Simplifying fiat on-ramps is a priority, aiming to allow users to purchase STX/SBTC without the need for KYC exchanges, thereby broadening access.
    • Expanding wallet compatibility is also on the agenda, with plans to integrate with popular wallets, facilitating cross-chain interactions.
    • The ecosystem is going to support selected teams preparing TGEs for SIP-10 tokens on major exchanges, setting the stage for broader market participation.

CIO Search & Treasury Management

  • CIO Recruitment:
    • The search for a Chief Investment Officer is ongoing, with a focus on finding a candidate based in the Cayman Islands who has a deep understanding of complex DeFi trading strategies. This role is crucial for steering the endowment’s investment strategy.
  • Financial Strategy:
    • The treasury management strategy aims to generate sustainable income, reducing the need to sell treasury assets. This includes selling call options with specific price targets and acting as a buyer of last resort during market downturns, ensuring stability and confidence in the ecosystem

Community Engagement & Governance/SIP

  • Engagement Initiatives:
    • The Stacks community is encouraged to participate in Stacks Endowment monthly public office hours hosted via X Spaces or DeOrganized Media live stream. These sessions are designed to foster open dialogue between the community and the endowment, providing a platform for feedback, questions, and collaborative discussions.
    • The Stacks Forum is highlighted as the primary channel for community feedback and idea sharing. It serves as a hub where members can voice their opinions, propose new ideas, and engage in meaningful discussions about the ecosystem’s future.
  • Working Group Highlights:
    • The DeFi Working Group is transitioning back to Stacks Labs, where it will continue to focus on enhancing DeFi operations and strategies within the ecosystem.
    • The AI BTC Working Group is noted for its strong community participation, reflecting the growing interest in the intersection of artificial intelligence and Bitcoin within the Stacks ecosystem.
    • The Clarity Working Group remains dedicated to supporting developer education and advancing the Clarity programming language, ensuring that developers have the resources and support they need to build effectively on Stacks.
  • Community Recognition:
    • The Stackies voting is currently live, offering the community an opportunity to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions within the ecosystem. This initiative highlights the importance of community involvement and acknowledges the efforts of those who drive innovation and growth.
  • Bitcoin Address SIP:
    • Haddy surfaced the need to progress the Bitcoin-address SIP for STX and raised coordination around wallet standards, opening a direct line with Rena and the endowment to help move this effort forward.

:speech_balloon: Key Speakers Insights

Rena

  • Laid out endowment 2026 strategy: budget, rebooted grants (incl. audit funding), and sBTC focus (payments, privacy, dual staking) with a strong push for transparency and future on‑chain endowment treasury views.
  • Clarified roles (1. Endowment = Cayman foundation, Labs = operating arm; 2. Foundation = governance)
  • Flagged the need for a trading‑savvy CIO and options-based treasury management, and invited community input via Stacks Forum and Endowment monthly office hours.

HeroGamer

  • Centered the call on SIPs and governance (improved stacking, Bitcoin‑address SIP), and pushed Stacks Forum as the primary home for serious feedback and proposals.
  • Spotlighted working groups (Clarity, AI BTC, Community & Marketing), using recaps and better visuals to increase visibility on social media, and promoted AI Guild / AI tools as practical support for builders.

PeaceLoveMusic

  • Framed Stacks as having strong tech and DeFi progress but low external awareness, arguing current STX price levels are a long‑term opportunity for those who see the fundamentals (NFA).
  • Urged more ecosystem participation (SIPs, working groups, Stackies, daily content) to convert that technical progress into visible growth and adoption.

Haddy

  • Pushed for a clear explanation of how Endowment, Labs, and Foundation relate, to keep governance independent and understandable to the community.
  • Raised process/coordination needs around a Bitcoin‑address standard for STX and how to formalize working‑group structures going forward.

GPSC

  • Voiced excitement about the sBTC roadmap-especially privacy and payments-and its potential to make 2026 structurally bullish for Stacks.
  • Stressed that, regardless of price, dev and ecosystem building (DeFi, tools, DeGrants, hacker houses) remain strong and central to the long‑term thesis.

Things to Celebrate

  • The endowment is setting a strong example of transparency, openly sharing treasury plans, structure, and priorities with the community.
  • Visible governance momentum across the ecosystem - active working groups, new SIPs in the pipeline, and strong dev/build activity despite market conditions.
  • A forward‑looking roadmap: sBTC, DeFi, dual staking, and grants all aligning to make 2026 a high‑potential year for Stacks.

Action Items / Next Steps

Topic Responsible Next Step Timeline
Advance Bitcoin-address SIP Haddy Coordinate with Rena and wallet builders to clarify requirements and path to adoption Ongoing
Drive Working Group Participation HeroGamer Keep publishing simple visuals/recaps for WGs and Calls; funnel newcomers to the right WG via Forum and calendar. Ongoing

:link: Resources & References

:megaphone: Call To Action

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