Since the formal ratification of SIP-031, the Stacks ecosystem has moved rapidly toward a more streamlined, decentralized set of organizations optimized for the current industry landscape. A major part of this evolution involved the formation of Stacks Labs, which saw many of our former Foundation team members transition their workstreams to the Labs entity to focus on key operations and growth for Stacks.

As we align with the ecosystem’s new structure, and in step with the broader movement toward operational efficiency, the Stacks Foundation continues to refine its focus and identify places to best serve the ecosystem. Over the last six months, we have significantly reduced our burn with a lens on long-term viability and alignment with the broader ecosystem’s resourcing. We remain committed to ensuring the Stacks Foundation remains a lean, sustainable steward for the ecosystem.

Today, we are excited to share an overview of key projects for 2026, centered on our three core pillars: Governance, Education, and R&D.

One of the "costs" of decentralization is the difficulty of finding where the most important conversations are happening. Our goal this year and beyond is to lower the learning curve for new Stackers and increase participation by making governance data impossible to miss.

Following the success of our partnership with the Ballot.gg team to bring the community a vastly improved voting experience, we’ve also partnered with Zero Authority DAO on more ‘next generation’ governance tooling:

Zero Authority Partnership:

• SIP Tracker: Recently launched, the tracker allows anyone to monitor the status of a SIP in real-time.
• Grants Tracker: Coming next, this will provide visibility on grants throughout the ecosystem, providing a simple and searchable place for grantees to share their progress with the community.
• Project Tracker: Similarly, the platform will soon offer a way for any builder working on anything to create a hub for it and share ongoing updates.

More tools and updates:

• AI and Governance: We are integrating AI to accelerate access and information for the community. For example, the SIP Tracker recently introduced AI analysis to make dense proposals digestible. Future updates will include AI-guided SIP drafting for authors and LLM-powered queries for community projects.
• Forum Upgrades: To enable smoother discussions, we are migrating the Stacks Forum to a simpler, more user-friendly platform. This move will give us better moderation tools and features like templates to guide high-quality posts and discussion.

Education is the bridge between a complex protocol and a thriving, engaged community. We are focusing on clarifying the "rules of the road" and upleveling the leaders within our community.

Stronger, Updated Documentation for the Duties of All Governance Leaders
In the short-term, this work includes:

• Updating CABs: We are reviewing existing governance positions to identify improvements.
• CABs & Steering Committee: We are overseeing member rotations for Critical Advisory Boards (CABs) to prevent burnout and invite fresh perspectives.
• Operational Standards: Expect updated documentation regarding the Treasury Committee's meetings and outcomes, automated alerts for the SIP lifecycle, and a simplified definition for Working Groups to ensure builders have a clear path to creating solutions.
• Timely Analysis & Recaps: Leveraging AI, the Foundation will deliver regular summaries of weekly SIP calls, tech upgrades, roadmap shifts, and other open public calls. These will be guided by new editorial standards centered on neutrality to ensure the community gets the facts without the noise.
• Event Support: In partnership with Stacks Labs and their incoming CMO, we will continue to support the ecosystem’s presence at strategic events and activations.

With Stacks Labs rapidly shipping according to builder needs, the Stacks Foundation provides an important layer of release support and reviews.

• Release Reviews: We act as an independent layer of checks and balances, performing testing and reviews of blockchain releases to ensure the safety of every upgrade before it reaches the community.
• AI-Powered Security: Following the development of Rendezvous, we will continue to ensure the ecosystem is embracing AI tools that help core devs and independent builders identify vulnerabilities more efficiently.
• IP & Licensing: The Foundation remains the legal home for ecosystem IP. We manage copyrights and licensing across jurisdictions to ensure Stacks assets are protected from bad actors and remain open to honest builders.
• Feedback Loop Maintenance: We ensure the "scaffolding" of the ecosystem -- the open calls, the SIP process, and the feedback channels -- remains robust and high-visibility.

The ecosystem continues to evolve in the best interest of our mission, but the Foundation’s commitment to a decentralized, transparent, and secure place for builders remains the constant.