We won’t dive into market trends or grand theories—today, it’s about a real problem I see when introducing people to Web3.
Every time I try to show friends who aren’t in the space how to play a blockchain game or try DeFi, the journey usually looks like this:
First, they need to download a crypto wallet.
Then, they have to memorize a mnemonic phrase—which scares off about half of them.
The biggest hurdle: buying ETH or BNB on an exchange and transferring it to the chain to cover Gas fees.
At this point, most friends ask, “I haven’t even started playing yet—why should I pay?”
And that question hits the core problem.
In Web2, no app ever asks you to pay a few dollars just to register or click a button. If they did, they would have failed long ago. But in Web3, paying Gas upfront is considered normal. Until this friction disappears, the dream of mass adoption will remain just that—a dream.
This is why I find @Plasma so interesting.
Their Paymaster (subsidized payment) system is elegantly simple: it lets projects cover Gas fees on behalf of users.
Think of it like the old “toll-free 400 number” or modern “free shipping.” Companies willingly pay a small cost to acquire a customer. On Plasma, game developers can stake $XPL to cover players’ interaction fees. Users can jump in, click, and play—without worrying about Gas or buying crypto first.
It may seem like a minor tweak, but it fundamentally changes the user experience. It shifts the model from “user pays first” to “cost is handled later,” aligning perfectly with traditional business logic.
Here, $XPL isn’t just a speculative token—it becomes an operational tool that projects must spend to attract and retain users. Any application that wants growth has to use $XPL to subsidize new participants.
This isn’t a flashy, get-rich-quick scheme. But it solves a tangible, practical problem. And in a space full of hype and speculation, projects that address real pain points deserve a closer look. #Plasma