Stacks, earning Bitcoin or just hopium

Good morning/evening
 
Stacks, should I sell, HODL or invest more.
Yet again I am looking at another blockchain, mostly because I am trying to work out if the chain is actually doing anything? is there new adoption? Are these tokens worth holding. This cycle has been my learning curve (not that I think it is over yet, and I still believe in a 4 year cycle at the moment, although I guess none of us really know until after!) I have researched tokens before and I have researched Blockchains, in as much as what they are but I have not researched adoption and usage before now, well not fully. I have looked at some of the usual things and used Dune a lot in tha past to see if a token was being held or sold and by who (whales, medium or small wallets). In my mind lol, if a chain has no usage or adoption then what is the point of investing in it! 
I was drawn to Stacks because you can earn BTC for stacking/staking, It sounded like an addition to Bitcoin, rather than an L2 and the price could move quicker than Bitcoin, (yes that 100X dream everyone has about ALTs lol), but I am also considering what I want to invest in for the next cycle although I know everything can change in crypto in an instant...........Usually when I am asleep!
 
What is Stacks
 
Stacks is a blockchain platform designed to bring smart contracts, decentralized apps (dApps), NFTs, and DeFi to Bitcoin, without changing Bitcoin itself, it uses a consensus mechanism called Proof of Transfer (PoX), which links the security of Stacks to Bitcoin’s hash power. Miners on Stacks commit BTC to bid for the right to produce blocks, and STX holders lock up or 'stack' their tokens to help secure the network and earn BTC rewards, which is part of the reason I currently have STX. All Stacks blocks/transactions are anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain for final settlement and this gives it the security benefits of Bitcoin while letting Stacks do more flexible operations in its execution layer.
 
DeFi on Stacks
 
ALEX — Called the “finance layer on Bitcoin,” ALEX is ambitious. It has a decentralized exchange (DEX), swaps, liquidity pools, yield farming, a launchpad, and more BUT Alex is not without issues and has had 2 exploits although ALEX did reimburse peoples losses. There is also LISA combined with ALEX.
Arkadiko — A stablecoin / borrowing protocol. Users can use STX as collateral to mint a dollar pegged stablecoin (USDA) and borrow against their collateral, it also does swaps.
Bitflow Finance — Used for swapping stSTX for other assets, providing liquidity pools, earning fees, etc. It’s one of the protocols getting liquidity via liquid staking.
Stacking DAO — Liquid staking is a big deal on Stacks. Stacking DAO lets people stake STX to earn native BTC rewards, while issuing a liquid token (stSTX) that can be deployed in DeFi. This unlocks locked-up STX so users can still use it in DeFi
Zest Protocol — Lets people borrow and lend, including using liquid staking tokens (stSTX) as collateral. It helps unlock more use of STX liquidity rather than just locking it up.
Velar — A multi-feature DeFi platform in progress. It is building a Uniswap-style DEX, a launchpad, trading capabilities, and has plans for governance, cross-chain bridges etc. Some parts are in test phases.
 
 
 

 
I have a very small position in a liquidity pool on ALEX. (Perhaps I should actually look at it and see how it is doing!)
 
What else is on stacks
 
Stacks Space, A base-builder / card game with booster packs and collectible items. Most of the game logic (combat, map movement, RNG, UI) runs off-chain, but boosters, rare items and some ownership proofs are minted as NFTs on Stacks. Use case: NFTs + some receipts on chain, not a fully on-chain game world.
Stacks Village, Browser game inspired by card survival mechanics, collectibles and assets are tokenized.
StacksPunks, These are pure-play collectibles, minting, transfers, and marketplaces are on Stacks
Stacks Streets, a gamified NFT experience that mixes quests, NFTs, and on-chain receipts for achievements or raffle entries, rewards, ownership and some verifiable events are anchored on Stacks.
Ordinals
 
Daily active users and transactions
Data from Messari https://messari.io/
 

 
I would not say this does not looks good in terms of adoption and it honestly surprised me when looking into this blockchain, just how little volume it is doing. I guess it also goes back to fragmented liquidity over many blockchains, the top 3 or 4 have all (or most) of the usage and what does that leave for the other chains? There is only so much to go around.
 
Stacks 2 minute recap from discord.
 
 

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These announcements look like it is all good, although the TVL they talk about is not the same as from the data sources I have used, but to complicate things every chain seems to use a different way of calculating it. (My data is from on chain).
 
 

• Some TVL aggregators include only smart contract deposits, liquidity pools, staking, etc.
• Others might include bridged assets, escrowed BTC, locked STX, or tokens in protocols that are loosely connected.
• Some reports might count the “value under management” or “protocol exposure” rather than strictly “locked on chain.”
• Projects can report their own “TVL” with favorable metrics (e.g. counting unrealized yield or tokenized derivatives).
• Some aggregators may double count the same underlying asset between protocol layers.
• Off-chain or non-on-chain amounts may be included in certain reports.

 
To conclude
 
 
So, where does that leave me with Stacks? Honestly, somewhere between curious observer and reluctant bagholder. The tech is interesting, the DeFi scene is growing and earning BTC rewards still has its appeal. But when you actually look at the data, the real on chain activity and adoption, it doesn’t feel like after all these years it is still growing. It feels like one of those chains with great potential that’s still waiting for its moment and crypto has a long list of those. This was an unexpected disappointment for me, but then we all know you are not supposed to love your bags and perhaps it is time to face the music for this one!
For now, I’ll probably just hold what I’ve got, and watch how things evolve. If usage picks up and liquidity starts to flow, maybe I’ll throw a bit more in. (I was thinking bear market, still earn Sats). But until then, it’s another lesson in the crypto classroom and sometimes the best move is to simply wait and see who’s actually building when the noise dies down. The disparity between the on chain metrics of usage and Stacks figure is intriguing to me and something I will look into more in the future and not just for this chain.
What are yout thoughts on Stacks? Do you think it has had its day or is there more to come? Does the actual usage of a blockchain concern you or not?
 
As always, thank you for reading and please feel free to comment.