Stacks' STX token climbed more than 20% over the past 24 hours to around $0.38 after Stacks Labs said founder Muneeb Ali will become chief executive, as the network moves toward a larger institutional Bitcoin staking rollout this month.
The company announced on Sept. 30 that Ali will take over day-to-day leadership from interim CEO Alex Miller, who is shifting to an advisory role. While some market commentary mentioned an Oct. 15 start date, Stacks Labs did not provide that date in its announcement.
Leadership change at Stacks Labs
Ali's return places the project's founder back in the top operating role at a time when Stacks is pushing to broaden use of its Bitcoin-linked staking product. The formal announcement focused on the leadership transition from Miller to Ali and did not frame the move as a standalone reason for the token's price jump.
Miller, who had been serving as interim CEO, is set to remain involved with the company as an adviser. The announcement did not include further detail on any change in strategy beyond the shift in day-to-day leadership.
Bonding Period 2 set for Oct. 10
A larger operational catalyst is approaching on Oct. 10, when Stacks plans to open Bonding Period 2. That next phase is expected to lift capacity in the program to 500 BTC.
The prior Genesis Bond drew 230 BTC along with 310,000 STX. According to the project, that pool was generating 0.28 BTC in weekly rewards, and the STX committed represented roughly 5% of the Bitcoin bonded.
Institutional route and custody support
Stacks is also working to make the program more usable for larger participants. The network said Anchorage Digital is developing custody support for institutions that want self-custodial Bitcoin staking through Stacks, allowing participation while clients' Bitcoin remains in custody.
The upcoming expansion is also expected to reserve part of the new 500 BTC capacity for pools. In addition, institutions with at least 50 BTC are expected to have a route into the self-custodial option.
HashKey Cloud joins Genesis cohort
Another recent addition is HashKey Cloud, which joined the Genesis cohort. Its participation covers both Bitcoin staking and the sBTC signer network, adding another institutional name to the group around the product as Stacks tries to scale the system.
Taken together, the latest announcements point to several overlapping factors behind the market move: a founder returning to the CEO role, a near-term increase in bonding capacity, custody infrastructure for institutions, and potential added demand for STX within the bond system.
What comes next
The next confirmed milestone is the planned opening of Bonding Period 2 on Oct. 10. That event is expected to raise total capacity to 500 BTC and further test institutional appetite for the staking structure Stacks is building around Bitcoin.
For now, the available facts suggest the recent rally has coincided with a broader set of product and infrastructure developments, not just the CEO appointment on its own.
Source: crypto.news