Hong Kong, June 10, 2025 — Hex Trust, a leading digital asset financial institution specializing in custody, staking, and markets services, has announced support for SIP-010, the fungible token standard on Stacks, a leading Bitcoin L2. This move allows institutional clients to securely store, manage, and deploy SIP-010 tokens – including sBTC, a leading Bitcoin-backed asset for DeFi – within Hex Trust’s institutional-grade custody.
sBTC transforms Bitcoin into a fully programmable asset, allowing investors to earn bitcoin yield, access on-chain lending, and participate in decentralized finance—all while maintaining the security and transparency of Bitcoin. Driven by these innovations, sBTC has rapidly emerged as the asset of choice for institutions and DeFi protocols. Recent demand for sBTC is illustrated by its series of three cap raises, each of which were filled within 24 hours, bringing total BTC locked to 5,000. Shortly after, Stacks was ranked as a top native Bitcoin layer by BitcoinLayers.org.
With licenses and registrations in key jurisdictions including Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, France, and Italy, and a global institutional client base, Hex Trust’s support for sBTC opens the door across Asia for continued adoption and exposure to the Bitcoin economy. This comes at a time when demand for exposure and participation in the Bitcoin landscape is stronger than ever. Globally, 59% of institutional investors plan to allocate more than 5% of their portfolios to digital assets in 2025.
Kyle Ellicott, Executive Director at the Stacks Asia Foundation, said, “Institutional adoption is critical to unlocking Bitcoin’s full potential, and Hex Trust’s integration of sBTC provides the secure, compliant infrastructure that institutions require. We’re excited to see sBTC become the go-to asset for those seeking yield, programmability, and the security of Bitcoin.”
Giorgia Pellizzari, Managing Director and Head of Custody at Hex Trust, added, “sBTC is establishing itself as the benchmark for institutional-grade Bitcoin in DeFi. By integrating SIP-010 and adding full support for sBTC, Hex Trust is enabling our clients to securely interact with Bitcoin-based smart contracts and earn native BTC yield, all within a regulated, compliant environment. This is a significant step forward in unlocking Bitcoin’s utility for institutional investors.”
This announcement builds on Hex Trust’s integration of STX and sBTC, announced in April 2025, as part of its broader strategy to expand institutional access to the Bitcoin economy through secure and trusted infrastructure. Looking ahead, Hex Trust will be rolling out support for additional Stacks DeFi via WalletConnect, further enabling secure institutional participation in the growing Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem.
About Hex Trust
Established in 2018, Hex Trust offers regulated institutional digital asset custody, staking, and markets services to builders, investors, and service providers. Get access to our comprehensive, secure, and regulated suite of services built on our proprietary and fully integrated infrastructure. For more information, visit Hextrust.com or follow Hex Trust on LinkedIn, X, and Telegram.
About Stacks
Stacks is the leading Bitcoin Layer 2 (L2) and the top L2 by developer traction, user activity, and market capitalization. Stacks is unlocking over $1 trillion in passive Bitcoin capital and making BTC a fully programmable, productive asset. Stacks enables smart contracts and decentralized applications to leverage Bitcoin as a secure, programmable foundation. With the Nakamoto upgrade activated in October 2024, Stacks achieved near-instant transactions, while retaining the security and irreversibility of Bitcoin L1. The launch of sBTC in December 2024 opened the door for developers and users to use native BTC in smart contracts, DeFi, and other Bitcoin-secured applications. The Stacks (STX) token was the first to undergo an SEC-qualified sale in the United States, and the project fully decentralized before the mainnet launch in 2021. Learn more about Stacks at https://www.stacks.co/.
