Stacks platform was formerly known as Blockstack. Stacks is an open-source platform to build smart contracts and decentralized blockchain applications. Stacks apps and smart contracts are enabled when the Stacks blockchain connects to Bitcoin. Stacks also provides open-source software for authentication and data storage. Stacks introduced a new secure and easy to build smart contract programming language known as Clarity. Stacks (STX) token is the native cryptocurrency of the Stacks blockchain, which is used as a gas fee for executing smart contracts, processing transactions and registering new digital assets on the Stacks 2.0 blockchain.
Stacks was developed by the Blockstack PBC organization. Blockstack PBC now operates under the name Hiro Systems PBC. Blockstack PBC was co-founded by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea. Muneeb Ali served as the CEO of Blockstack PBC and still works with the platform today as the Executive Chairman of Hiro Systems PBC. Ryan Shea also served as the Co-CEO of Blockstack PBC and later stepped down from his position in 2018.
Currently, Hiro Systems PBC is led by the following 3 key people in the leadership positions:
Muneeb Ali - Founder & Executive Chairman
He is the Founder of Stacks and Executive Chairman of Hiro. He holds a Ph.D in Computer Science from Princeton University and has worked on internet protocols and distributed systems for over 15 years. Hiro was created in 2021 to serve developers building smart contracts for the Bitcoin blockchain. Muneeb Ali is a guest lecturer on cloud computing at Princeton and was a technical advisor to the HBO show Silicon Valley.
Alex Miller - CEO
He is the Chief Executive Officer of Hiro Systems. Before joining Hiro, he helped lead several developer focused companies including Stack Overflow. Alex also advises early stage startups on their business models, go-to-market strategies, company operations, and executive team development.
Diwaker Gupta - CTO
He is the Chief Technology Officer at Hiro Systems. Formerly, he was Engineering Lead for Intelligence at Dropbox and Director of Engineering at Maginatics (EMC). He holds a PhD in Computer Science from UC San Diego.
