HashKey Cloud joins Stacks network for Bitcoin staking launch

The Genesis Bond, scheduled to launch around September 10, allows institutions to earn BTC-denominated rewards without relinquishing control of their assets to centralized custodians. By utilizing Stacks’ Proof of Transfer mechanism, participants timelock their Bitcoin on the base layer while simultaneously locking STX tokens. Unlike traditional staking, the underlying Bitcoin remains under the holder’s private keys, with the protocol cryptographically associating the two commitments for a six-month term.

HashKey Cloud, which manages approximately HK$29 billion in staked assets across 40 networks, joins an institutional cohort that includes 21Shares and UTXO Management. Beyond the bond program, the firm will act as a signer for sBTC, the Bitcoin-backed asset within the Stacks ecosystem. This role involves participating in a threshold-based system where at least 70% of the signer group must authorize deposits and withdrawals. While this distributed architecture aims to enhance security and regional diversity, Stacks noted that the initial rollout will remain restricted to professional market participants to manage capacity during the bootstrap phase.