Launched in September 2025, Plasma is a specialized Layer-1 blockchain engineered exclusively for stablecoin payments, particularly USDT. Unlike general-purpose networks like Ethereum or Solana, Plasma focuses on solving real-world pain points: high gas fees, slow settlements, and clunky user experiences for everyday digital dollar transfers.
The standout innovation is its protocol-level paymaster system, enabling true zero-fee USDT transfers for basic peer-to-peer and merchant payments. Users can send $1 or $10,000 in USDT instantly without holding the native token for gas—revolutionary for remittances, micropayments, and global finance. This is powered by PlasmaBFT, a high-throughput consensus mechanism, combined with full EVM compatibility for seamless dApp development and over 100 DeFi integrations at launch (including Aave, Ethena, and Euler).
Here’s a visual breakdown of Plasma’s zero-fee USDT transfer magic in action:
The XPL token serves as the network’s utility and governance asset, with a total supply capped at 10 billion. It secures the chain through staking and validator rewards, while an EIP-1559-style burn on non-subsidized fees creates deflationary pressure as adoption grows. At mainnet beta, Plasma attracted over $2 billion in stablecoin liquidity within days, ranking it among the top blockchains by stablecoin TVL.
The official Plasma branding captures its mission for fast, transparent global money movem$XRP ent:
