Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin, along with the Stacks Accelerator and Stacks Foundation, announced on Thursday the start of the “Bitcoin Odyssey,” a one-year commitment among investment firms to invest $165 million in inventive solutions to help drive Bitcoin (BTC) adoption.
The Bitcoin Odyssey is funded by Digital Currency Group, GBV Capital, White Star Capital and GSR, among other organizations, to respond to the rise in interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) and new technological capabilities made possible with Stacks.
Alex Chizhik, head of listings at Okcoin, and Kyle Ellicott, partner at Stacks Accelerator, will co-lead the initiative. The money and assets will be used to finance initiatives that are being built on Stacks, an open-source network for Bitcoin-based smart contracts, and the Bitcoin blockchain itself.
Stacks 2.0 is a layer-1 blockchain with a built-in bridge to Bitcoin. The Clarity smart contract language, which is based on Algorand’s open-source protocol, serves as the foundation for Stacks 2.0. As a second-layer network, Stacks complements the Bitcoin blockchain and allows for the utilization of BTC in decentralized lending, nonfungible token (NFT) buying and other smart contract applications.
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Since its mainnet launch in January 2021, the layer-1 network’s STX token reached a peak market capitalization of $3.7 billion. The Bitcoin Odyssey will select projects focused on Bitcoin and Stacks, as well as solutions across Web3, such as the Metaverse, blockchain-based play-to-earn gaming, DeFi, NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations, along with CityCoins, government technology and other fields. In addition to funding, industry leaders will provide hands-on assistance to the selected Odyssey projects.