STX:LDN Roadmap 23/24 — Part 2: The Home of Stacks Evangelists in London

STX:LDN is a local community-driven group, working to expand the Stacks Blockchain community and Bitcoin ecosystem in the UK. Set up by local Bitcoin enthusiasts Nathaniel Cole, Conrad Carlson & Marlon Benjamin, its main mission is to drive awareness of Bitcoin and building on Bitcoin via Stacks through hosting events and technical aid respectively.

Following on from last week’s blog ‘Roadmap: Why was STX:LDN setup?’ this blog highlights some of what STX:LDN has achieved over the past 12 months, from meetups to campaigns and programmes.

Meetups

Throughout 2022/23 STX:LDN hosted a series of meetups and events introducing people to the Stacks ecosystem and educating them on the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of building within the Bitcoin ecosystem via L1 & L2 development programmes and communities.

To date STX:LDN has facilitated 8 in-person meetup events in London, two of which brought some of the most known Bitcoin and Web3 communities together, Coinscrum and Crypto Mondays London, with all three communities coming together via Coinscrum in July of 2023 for the ‘Big Bitcoin & Web3 Summer Party’! Moar Pizza anyone?

Virtual Spaces

In addition to in-person events, STX:LDN has also hosted a multitude of online events via Twitter spaces. Focusing on Bitcoin ecosystem development and Stacker discussions, each Twitter space has established a great connection with people in the Stacks community, Bitcoin L1 maximalists and the wider Bitcoin ecosystem, not to mention other crypto ecosystem builders curious about how they can build Bitcoin-centric dapps and services.

These virtual events have further expanded this month via Community Builder spaces, which allow STX:LDN community builders to leverage the community network and platform to host their own events via Twitter and other mediums.

Marketing Campaign

In August 2022, STX:LDN launched membership NFTs in partnership with Xverse and HeyLayer, with a multitude of developing benefits for holders. These benefits are due to become one of STX:LDN’s key areas of focus going into 2024 and beyond. The objective of these NFTs is to consistently provide the best value and opportunities for all of the community, ensuring the biggest community supporters and builders receive more than just acknowledgements, whilst also maintaining a tangible connection to Bitcoin, Stacks and Web3 innovations.

Moreover, STX:LDN decided to focus an outreach campaign on educating individuals who may be unfamiliar with, but keenly interested in delving into the wider crypto space, from a Bitcoin-first perspective. This approach not only demystifies the intricacies of cryptocurrency as a whole but also provides a solid foundation for understanding its broader implications and potential.

Partnerships and Programmes

In June 2023, STX:LDN launched the ‘Developer Breakthrough Program’, an initiative that seeks to help new developers find new job opportunities within the Stacks ecosystem. It also provides development training to developer companies and teams that have no experience with Clarity, a programming language equivalent to Solidity which enables developers to build Bitcoin-anchored smart contracts.

Over the course of the rest of the summer, STX:LDN also pursued and announced several partnerships aimed at bringing awareness to projects in the Stacks and Bitcoin ecosystems, as well as strengthening its offering to community members.

These include partnerships with:

Sigle - a decentralised writing platform secured by Bitcoin.

BlockSurvey - a decentralised survey platform similar to SurveyMonkey, that puts ownership of data in the hands of survey respondents.

Tintash - a software company, specialising in AR/VR and Web3 that provides dedicated software developer teams globally.

Console - a decentralised alternative to Discord for building Web3-powered communities.

Both the Sigle and BlockSurvey partnerships enable STX:LDN to use Web3 products built on Stacks thus strengthening the community’s credibility. The partnership with Tintash however goes one step further, enabling STX:LDN to offer development training to its members, whilst also introducing a globally renowned company to the building in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The community partnership with Console allowed STX:LDN members to beta test the features of the platform long before release, with Co-Founder Chris Castig presenting at our August 2022 Meetup event.

Developer Discussions

In addition to negotiating and securing partnerships, STX:LDN has also been active in bringing together a community of IRL Stackers (and potential Stackers) in discussions between parties that rarely intersect in the Web3 space: developers, creators and lawyers.

Indeed, just as the UK announced a raft of new legislation and proposals which codified crypto-assets in law, STX:LDN hosted an event called Code is Law v Code & Law, which brought together experts from the crypto industry, developers, lawyers, government agencies & lawmakers.

The event included a first-of-its-kind debate between veteran developers in the Web3 space and renowned lawyers who specialise in UK crypto law. It also included talks from people with direct experience dealing with crypto disputes in the UK and abroad.

These pioneering events are exactly how the Stacks ecosystem will cut through the Web3 noise and reach an audience inspired to build new products using these technologies.

To that end, in the next blog, we’ll go over what STX:LDN has coming up for the rest of the year, so stay tuned!

About STX:LDN 

STX:LDN is a London-based, community-led group, working to educate community members and all interested parties about the Stacks, as well as expand the wider Stacks community and Bitcoin ecosystem.

STX:LDN hosts a series of events in and around London, UK, on topics related to both Stacks and Bitcoin in addition to organizing workshops & courses that focus on building on Bitcoin using Stacks. 

The community also provides consultancy services for both individual founders and developer organizations looking to launch a new product within the Stacks ecosystem.

To learn more about what STX:LDN provides or to get involved in the community, visit the STX:LDN website below.

Stacks is a Layer 1 blockchain solution, that recycles Bitcoin's POW algorithm, without the consumption of extra energy.

Centric on the original vision of Bitcoin, Stacks provides the capability to build dApps, NFTs and DeFi applications utilising the unique decentralization and security of the Bitcoin blockchain. -- Learn More