A $165 Million ‘Bitcoin Odyssey’: Okcoin, Stacks Aim to Accelerate BTC Adoption

Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin today announced it is teaming up with the Stacks Accelerator and Stacks Foundation to launch Bitcoin Odyssey, a grant program with $165 million in funding. The venture capital-backed project aims to propel Bitcoin past Ethereum as the go-to blockchain for decentralized applications.

The idea is to help bring all the elements of Web3—play-to-earn crypto games, DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and the metaverse—over to Bitcoin. Up until now, Ethereum has been the top blockchain for building decentralized applications, or dapps. But some Bitcoin developers want to see that change, and Stacks aims to be the platform to get it done.

Stacks, founded in 2016 by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea, is an open-source protocol for developers to deploy smart contracts (software that executes tasks automatically) and NFTs (unique tokens linked to digital content, providing proof of ownership) on the Bitcoin blockchain. In January of last year, Stacks debuted its mainnet, which resulted in its STX coin reaching an all-time high market capitalization of $3.7 billion. STX’s current marketcap is $1.84 billion.

The coin’s price spiked today from around $1.06 to $1.89 on the Bitcoin Odyssey news, and is currently trading at $1.40 according to CoinMarketCap.

In addition to receiving funding, selected projects to Bitcoin Odyssey will get hands-on assistance from organizations already in the blockchain industry. The Bitcoin Odyssey initiative is co-chaired by Alex Chizhik, head of listings at Okcoin, and Kyle Ellicott, partner at the Stacks Accelerator. Participants in the fund include Digital Currency Group, GSR, and White Star Capital, all of whom will allocate money and resources to projects building on Stacks.

Bitcoin Odyssey will also help fund projects that create CityCoins like MiamiCoin, a cryptocurrency developed using the Stacks protocol that launched June 8 of last year.