Bullish Capital and 21shares Earn BTC With Stacks as Bond 3 of Bitcoin Staking Sells Out

Bond 3 of Bitcoin staking with Stacks sold out in November 2026, with Bullish Capital, the venture capital arm of Bullish (NYSE: BLSH), and 21shares among its participants. Both institutions staked BTC on the Bitcoin L1, in their own custody, to earn BTC with Stacks at a 3% target annual yield, set before the bond opened and fixed for its six-month term.

Bitcoin staking with Stacks is how BTC holders earn BTC without handing their Bitcoin to a lender or platform. Participants timelock BTC on the Bitcoin L1, pair it with STX on Stacks for a fixed term and earn BTC paid by Stacks miners. Bullish holds 22,000 BTC and ranks among the ten largest publicly traded holders of Bitcoin, according to CoinMarketCap, making it the first company in that group to earn BTC with Stacks.

Bond 3 brought 1,005 BTC into Bitcoin staking, more than the Genesis Bond and Bond 2 combined, taking the total across the first three bonds to 1,740 BTC, according to the Stacks Dune dashboard. Bond 4 opens Dec. 3, 2026.

Who Took Part in Bond 3

Bullish Capital and 21shares represent two kinds of institutional Bitcoin holders: a public company staking from its own balance sheet and an asset manager running regulated crypto products. Bullish operates the only NYSE-listed crypto exchange, a top-three venue worldwide for BTC and ETH spot volume according to CoinDesk Data.

21shares is one of the world's leading digital asset managers, with over $6.5 billion in assets under management across over 60 crypto ETPs globally. The firm also took part in the Genesis Bond in September 2026, the first bond of Bitcoin staking with Stacks.

"As an investor, we look for ways to earn on our capital without taking on risks we can't underwrite," said Alasdair Foster, CEO, Bullish Capital. "Bitcoin staking with Stacks lets us earn BTC on our Bitcoin under the same custody controls we already rely on."

Both firms staked from BitGo qualified custody, which BitGo opened to Bitcoin staking on Nov. 3, 2026. Institutions using that custody setup can now stake BTC for the next bond without changing how their Bitcoin is held.

Why Public Bitcoin Holders Are Turning to Bitcoin Staking

Public companies hold more than 1.3 million BTC, over 6% of total supply, according to CoinMarketCap, and most of that Bitcoin earns nothing while it sits on balance sheets. Bitcoin capital markets are the yield, credit and trading markets that make an asset productive, the same role bond and lending markets play for dollars. Stacks is building those markets for Bitcoin, starting with Bitcoin staking. Stacks was founded by Muneeb Ali, and its STX offering in 2019 was the first SEC-qualified token offering in US history.

Institutional holders weighing Bitcoin yield tend to ask the same three questions about return, custody and counterparty risk. Bitcoin staking with Stacks answers them with a target rate set before each bond opens, BTC that stays on the Bitcoin L1 under the institution's own custody, and no lender or platform holding the Bitcoin in between.

"Bitcoin is the world's leading digital asset, yet most of it sits idle because it lacks native capital markets," said Muneeb Ali, CEO, Stacks Labs, and founder of Stacks. "When an asset manager like 21shares and one of the largest public holders of Bitcoin stake in the same bond, Bitcoin capital markets are taking shape. Bond 3 selling out shows that institutional demand to earn BTC is already here."

How Bitcoin Staking With Stacks Works

Bitcoin staking with Stacks pairs BTC on the Bitcoin L1 with STX, the native asset of Stacks, which gives Bitcoin the capacity to earn. Each participant locks STX on Stacks alongside its staked BTC at a current parameter of 5% of the BTC value, held for the bond's term.

The yield in Bitcoin staking comes from Stacks miners, who spend BTC to mine Stacks blocks and earn STX. That BTC is distributed to participants weekly onchain, so the yield exists because miners want STX. Stacks has distributed over 4,500 BTC in rewards to participants since 2021, the most BTC paid out by any Bitcoin layer, according to Dune.

What Comes Next for Bitcoin Staking With Stacks

Bond 4 of Bitcoin staking with Stacks opens around Dec. 3, 2026, for anchor participants, the institutions and individual holders committing durable BTC capital and STX staking capacity to the long-term growth of Bitcoin capital markets.

In 2027, PoX-6 is set to introduce an open auction that lets anyone stake BTC in the self-custodial path. Holders will also be able to borrow stablecoins against staked BTC without selling it, while it keeps earning, which brings the pairing of savings and credit that traditional capital markets are built on to Bitcoin.

How to Take Part in Bond 4

Bond 4 opens Dec. 3, and both institutions and individual holders can take part.

• Institutions can register as anchor participants at stacks.co/institutional-bitcoin-staking, including those staking from a qualified custodian such as BitGo.
• Individual holders can join through pooled Bitcoin staking at stacks.co/bitcoin-staking, which runs through sBTC, the decentralized Bitcoin-backed asset on Stacks.

This post is commissioned by Stacks and does not serve as a testimonial or endorsement by The Block. This post is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment, tax, legal or other advice. You should conduct your own research and consult independent counsel and advisors on the matters discussed within this post. Past performance of any asset is not indicative of future results.