Stacks (STX) Nakamoto Upgrade Faces Another Setback, Community Left in Suspense

The much-awaited Nakamoto upgrade for the Stacks (STX) network appears to have experienced another setback in its activation timeline.

The much-anticipated Nakamoto upgrade for the Stacks (STX) network appears to have hit another roadblock in its activation timeline.

The activation window of the hard fork, set to bring fast blocks and Bitcoin finality, opened on 28 August, marking the beginning of Epoch 3.0. In a 20 September blog, Stacks Foundation announced that core developers had selected the block for the hard fork to occur (block number 8646846) on 9 October.

However, the activation countdown expired this week with no communication or update regarding the matter, leaving the Stacks community in suspense. Several STX holders took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their frustrations.

One user posted, “Holders have been patiently supportive of the Nakamoto upgrade despite delays to the schedule so far. Repeated delays to the schedule stimulate the imagination of whether Nakamoto upgrade and sBTC was a virtually unfeasible dream.”

The Bitcoin L2 network earlier confirmed the successful completion of subsequent milestones, including the activation of the Nakamoto testnet hard fork on 27 September. In the update issued at the end of September, the foundation also revealed that developers encountered bugs “related to how nodes communicate with each other regarding tenure extensions” during the first testnet activation.

“Before the mainnet hard fork, these bugs will need to be addressed and then tested with a new version on the Nakamoto testnet and then the primary testnet,” the foundation noted in the blog, adding:

“The goal is to be ready to upgrade the primary testnet […] and observe it is running the latest code stably for at least one week before the mainnet hard fork.”

Last week, the foundation announced that the hard fork working group had updated the testnet with the Release Candidate 2 software.

STX Faces Technical Challenges

The Nakamoto upgrade is a highly anticipated event for the Stacks ecosystem, as it will unlock more network utility and pave the way for more decentralized applications. In the spot market, this development could boost the demand and price of its native token, STX.

Stacks (STX) has been trading within an ascending triangle pattern on the daily chart, with rising support levels. Many STX holders believe that the upgrade could be the catalyst needed to push the price of STX above $2.

This psychological barrier has proven to be difficult to break since 13 June. Bulls’ attempt to flip the resistance on 27 September saw rejection at $2.08, followed by another thwarted uptrend at $1.99 on 4 October.

While the delay surrounding the upgrade raises concerns, its potential remains. If successfully implemented, it could provide a mild boost to STX’s price. However, growing concerns around its timeline could cultivate negative sentiment, exerting downward pressure on STX.