Stacks sBTC Academy is a learning page with everything you need to know to find bugs on Stacks. With guides to help you learn Stacks fast and use Immunefi successfully.

Stacks sBTC Academy 2

Learn why the Stacks ecosystem was built, its connection to Bitcoin, and what separates Stacks from other L2 blockchain protocols.

What is Stacks?

Explore how Stacks is intrinsically connected to Bitcoin, using the Bitcoin blockchain as a base layer. Learn how this connection ensures a secure and immutable foundation for Stacks-based smart contracts and decentralized applications.

Stacks connection to Bitcoin

Familiarize yourself with the fundamental terminology and concepts within the Stacks network.

Network Basic Definitions

Dive into the Proof of Transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism, which uniquely ties Stacks to Bitcoin. Learn how PoX secures Stacks, incentivizes participation, and bridges the two blockchain networks.

Proof of Transfer (PoX)

Discover how accounts are managed within the Stacks ecosystem, including account addresses, private keys, and the mechanisms that ensure secure and efficient transaction management.

Account Model

Understand the process of block production in the Stacks network, including the role of miners and the rules governing the creation of new blocks and their integration into the blockchain.

Block Production

Explore the mechanics of mining in the Stacks ecosystem, including how miners compete to win rewards by committing Bitcoin and the factors that influence successful mining.

How Mining Works

Learn how signing ensures the integrity of blocks and transactions within the Stacks blockchain. Understand the role of cryptographic signatures in validating and securing the network.

How Signing Relates to Block Production

Discover the Stacking mechanism, where participants lock their STX tokens to support network consensus and earn Bitcoin rewards. Understand the role of Stackers in the Stacks ecosystem and how Stacking contributes to network security.

How Stacking Works

Gain insights into how transactions are structured and processed within the Stacks network, from signing and broadcasting to inclusion in blocks and finalization on Bitcoin.

How Transactions Work

Stacks 101

Explore Clarity, the purpose-built smart contract language for the Stacks blockchain. Learn how Clarity is designed for predictability, security, and auditability, with a focus on preventing bugs and exploits commonly seen in other blockchain smart contract languages.

What is Clarity?

Dive into "The Clarity Book," a comprehensive guide to getting started with Clarity. This resource provides step-by-step instructions, examples, and best practices for understanding secure and efficient smart contracts on the Stacks blockchain.

The Clarity Book

Clarity

Learn about sBTC, a Bitcoin-pegged asset on the Stacks blockchain. Understand its purpose, how it bridges Bitcoin and Stacks ecosystems, and its role in unlocking Bitcoin's programmability while retaining its native value.

What is sBTC?

Understand the process of minting sBTC by depositing Bitcoin into the bridge. Gain insights into the mechanisms that ensure Bitcoin is securely locked and the equivalent sBTC is issued on Stacks.

Minting sBTC

Learn how to withdraw Bitcoin by redeeming sBTC through the sBTC Bridge. This includes understanding the operational flow and security measures in place to ensure a reliable withdrawal process.

Withdrawing BTC

Explore the Emily API, a crucial component for managing the sBTC Bridge. Learn how it facilitates seamless communication between sBTC users and signers, ensuring secure and efficient sBTC operations.

Emily API

Dive into the lifecycle of an sBTC transaction, from initiation to completion. This module covers the detailed steps and interactions between Bitcoin, Stacks, and Clarity smart contracts.

sBTC Transaction Walkthrough

Understand the concept of Peg Wallet UTXO and its role in managing Bitcoin transactions within the sBTC Bridge. Learn about the underlying UTXO model and its integration into the sBTC system.

Peg Wallet UTXO

Explore the Clarity smart contracts that power the sBTC Bridge. This includes an in-depth look at their state variables and interfaces, focusing on their role in enabling secure and efficient sBTC operations.

Clarity Contracts

sBTC

Learn how to set up the sBTC development environment by installing required tools and dependencies. Follow step-by-step instructions to prepare your system for sBTC development and testing.

Setup and Installing Dependencies

Understand how to build the sBTC project and execute unit tests to verify the correctness of individual components. This module covers the basics of testing methodology and troubleshooting.

Building and Running Unit Tests

Learn how to set up a local test environment to run integration tests for the sBTC system. This includes simulating real-world interactions to identify and debug issues effectively.

Running a Test Environment for Integration Tests

Running a Proof of Concept (PoC)

Understand the financial incentives driving participation in the Stacks network and the challenges related to security and budget allocation.

Financial Incentives and Known Issues

Audits & Known Issues

Explore the foundational Stacks whitepaper to gain insights into the technical architecture and design principles of the Stacks network.

Stacks Whitepaper

Study the sBTC whitepaper to understand the technical design, architecture, and mechanisms behind Bitcoin-pegged assets on Stacks. Gain insights into the sBTC bridge, minting and redemption processes, and the system's security model.

sBTC Whitepaper

Review a high-level summary of the technical specifications governing the Stacks blockchain and its key features.

Overview of Technical Specifications

Understand Stacks Improvement Proposals (SIPs), which define changes and upgrades to the Stacks network. Discover how SIPs are developed and implemented collaboratively to maintain and enhance the network's capabilities.

What is a Stacks Improvement Proposal (SIP)?

Learn about SIP-007, which defines the Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism and its role in securing the Stacks network.

SIP007: Proof of Transfer

Discover the enhancements introduced in SIP-015, including upgrades to the PoX mechanism and the Clarity programming language.

SIP015: Upgrade to PoX and Clarity

Explore SIP-021, which details the integration of Nakamoto Consensus principles into the Stacks network.

SIP021: Nakamoto Consensus

Access the complete repository of Stacks Improvement Proposals (SIPs) to review and understand all network upgrades and features.

Repository of SIPs

Understand the OP_RETURN opcode in Bitcoin transactions and its relevance to Stacks, particularly for embedding metadata in Bitcoin blocks.

The OP_RETURN opcode

Dive into Weighted Schnorr Threshold Signatures (WSTS) and their role in enhancing multisignature schemes for secure key management in Stacks.

Weighted Schnorr Threshold Signatures

Explore the FROST protocol, a round-optimized Schnorr threshold signature scheme that balances efficiency and security for multi-party cryptographic operations.

Schnorr Signatures through FROST

Technical FAQ

Attackathons are education-based bug hunting competitions where security researchers compete over a reward pool by submitting impactful bugs in the project's code. Here’s how they work:

**Before the Attackathon**<br/> Immunefi works with the project to host a security-focused education period, providing top tier education and support to security researchers.

**During the Attackathon**<br/> Security researchers experience the optimal hunting conditions, with direct project support, responsiveness, and duplicate rewards.

**After the Attackathon**<br/> Immunefi spotlights the security accomplishments, with a custom leaderboard, Attackathon Findings Report, Bug Fix Reviews, and NFT awards.

Ultimately, Attackathons serve to secure projects, develop their security ecosystem, and create new opportunities for security researchers.

What's an Attackathon?

Stacks is a Bitcoin L2 enabling smart contracts & apps with Bitcoin as the secure base layer. This Attackathon focuses on Stacks’ sBTC upgrade.

Attackathon | Stacks II

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