Stacks Bond 3 Sells Out with Bullish and 21shares

Stacks Bond 3 Sells Out Quickly

Stacks has officially sold out its Bond 3 Bitcoin staking round as of November 5, 2026. Major financial institutions are increasingly looking for ways to put their idle Bitcoin to work directly on the network.

Notable participants in this round include 21shares, a leading issuer of crypto exchange-traded products, and Bullish, an NYSE-listed digital asset exchange. Both firms joined the program to earn native Bitcoin rewards.

Big Institutional Names Join the Staking Pool

This marks a return for 21shares, which manages over $6.5 billion in assets across more than 60 ETPs worldwide. The company previously participated in the Genesis Bond in September and Bond 2 in October.

Meanwhile, Bullish staked BTCBTC-6.37% directly from its corporate treasury. Bullish holds roughly 22,000 BTC, placing it among the top ten largest publicly traded Bitcoin holders according to CoinMarketCap data. This makes Bullish the first company in that group to earn BTC using the Stacks network.

How Stacking and Bitcoin Staking Work

For years, holding Bitcoin meant letting assets sit inactive in a wallet. Stacks aims to change that by building a functional capital market directly on top of Bitcoin's main layer.

Here is how the participation structure works for Bond 3:

• Participants timelock their BTC on the main Bitcoin layer (Layer 1).
• They pair their BTC with STX, the native token of Stacks, locked on Stacks for a six-month term.
• The pairing parameter is set at 5% of the total BTC value.
• Participants earn weekly rewards paid out directly in BTC by Stacks miners.
• There is no slashing penalty. Staked BTC is returned in full at the end of the term or upon early exit.

Yield Target and Custodial Safeguards

Bond 3 carries a target annual yield of 3%, which was fixed before the bond opened for its term. It is important to note that prospective returns in crypto depend on network parameters and carry inherent market risks.

Crucially, institutional investors can participate without giving up their custody setups. Bullish staked using BitGo qualified custody, which opened to Bitcoin staking on November 3, keeping funds on Layer 1 within established frameworks.

Our participation in Stacks lets us explore BTC-denominated rewards while keeping our established custody arrangements in place.

Putting Idle Bitcoin Balance Sheets to Work

Public companies currently hold over 1.3 million BTC, representing more than 6% of the total Bitcoin supply. Historically, most of these balance sheet reserves sit idle without generating yield.

Alistair Byas-Perry, Head of Capital Markets & Trading at 21shares, noted that institutional investors increasingly want Bitcoin to be a productive asset rather than just a passive holding.

Returning for Bond 3 reflects our confidence in Bitcoin staking with Stacks as a way to earn BTC on BTC, and seeing more institutions join each bond confirms that demand is real.

Muneeb Ali, CEO of Stacks Labs and founder of Stacks, added that having major ETP issuers and top treasury holders stake together shows that Bitcoin capital markets are actively taking shape.

Since 2021, Stacks has distributed more than 4,200 BTC in total rewards to network participants.

What Comes Next: Bond 4 Launch

Following the fast sell-out of Bond 3, Stacks has announced that Bond 4 will open on December 3, 2026. Institutions can register through the Stacks institutional portal, while retail users can join via pooled staking options.

As with any digital asset activity, investors should carefully evaluate risk factors and market volatility before participating. Past performance of digital assets or past operational results do not guarantee future performance or results. For market data and assets overview, visit Bitkub Market.