Publication must mention the project account @plasma, tag the token $XPL and use the hashtag #plasma
What is Plasma (XPL)?
January 12, 2026
Basic 8 min read
What is Plasma (XPL)?
Payments without 'Commissions': Forget about buying extra tokens just to move your money. Plasma allows USDT transfers with zero commissions and the possibility to pay for gas with other stablecoins you already have in your wallet.
Speed, Security on Bitcoin: Thanks to the PlasmaBFT engine, transactions are confirmed in less than a second. Additionally, the Plasma network anchors its history on the Bitcoin blockchain, inheriting the security of the world's most robust network.
Liquidity from day 1: The project does not start from scratch; it comes with 2 billion dollars in liquidity and the backing of industry leaders, ensuring a solid and reliable ecosystem.
Ready for developers (EVM): It is fully compatible with Ethereum tools. Any existing application can migrate to Plasma without changing its code, leveraging infrastructure designed exclusively for the massive flow of digital dollars.
What is Plasma (XPL)?
Plasma (XPL) is a Layer 1 blockchain specifically designed to optimize global payments with stablecoins, operating under a fully compatible architecture with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The project is led by its CEO and co-founder, Paul Faecks, who heads a team of 30 professionals with experience in leading companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs.
The origin of Plasma is marked by strong institutional backing that includes the CEO of Tether, Paolo Ardoino, the Founders Fund of Peter Thiel, and Framework Ventures. Its mainnet entered beta phase on September 25, 2025, quickly positioning itself as a specialized financial infrastructure for the new era of digital money.
A space dedicated to stablecoins
The fundamental objective of Plasma is to constitute itself as 'the best possible home for stablecoins', solving the critical problems of general-purpose networks like Ethereum or . These traditional networks were not built to meet the specific demands of digital dollars, resulting in high transaction fees, a complex user experience, and the need to hold additional volatile tokens to pay for gas. Plasma addresses these deficiencies by integrating support for stablecoins directly into the core of its protocol, allowing for nearly instant settlements and removing the technical barriers that limit the everyday use of these assets.
The importance of Plasma lies in revolutionary features such as its USDT transfers with zero fees, made possible by an integrated 'paymaster' system that sponsors gas costs for users. Additionally, the protocol allows the use of custom gas tokens, meaning users can pay fees for more complex transactions with the same assets they already hold, such as USDT or pBTC, without needing to acquire the native XPL token. The network also stands out for its security anchored to Bitcoin, as it periodically stores its transaction history on that blockchain to offer institutional-grade protection.
Therefore, since its launch, Plasma has demonstrated its relevance by having 2 billion dollars in liquidity and partnerships with giants in the DeFi sector such as Aave, Ethena, and Fluid. Its economy is supported by the native XPL token, which is essential for securing the network through staking, participating in governance, and acting as the engine of the deflationary economic model inspired by Ethereum's EIP-1559 standard. Ultimately, Plasma is important because it establishes a specialized financial rail that combines the robustness of Bitcoin with the flexibility of smart contracts to process massive volumes of digital payments efficiently and scalably.
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How does Plasma (XPL) work?
The core functioning of Plasm (XPL) lies in its consensus layer called PlasmaBFT, which is based on the Fast HotStuff Byzantine Fault Tolerant protocol (created in 2022) to ensure security even in the face of misbehavior by some participants.
This consensus layer optimizes speed by executing the proposal, voting, and block confirmation steps in parallel rather than sequentially, allowing for transaction finality in a matter of seconds.
Complementing this process, Plasma's execution layer runs on Reth, an Ethereum client written in Rust that handles state changes and EVM logic. This architecture allows developers to use Solidity and standard Ethereum tools without complications, while the efficiency of its layers enables rapid settlement of operations.
Thanks to this design, the network can offer advanced features such as USDT transfers with no fees through a paymaster system that covers gas costs, as well as the ability to use custom gas tokens so that users can pay fees with stablecoins they already possess. Finally, the infrastructure supports a Bitcoin bridge that allows converting BTC into pBTC backed 1:1, securely integrating this asset into smart contracts through a threshold signature scheme.
XPL Tokenomics
The economy of Plasma is supported by its native asset XPL, which has an initial supply of 10 billion tokens (initial issuance). The final issuance is infinite because the token is inflationary, due to the Proof of Stake scheme that its network uses, based on PlasmaBFT.
This asset serves fundamental functions similar to those of Ethereum or Bitcoin, acting as the necessary resource to pay transaction fees for complex operations, securing the network through staking in a Proof of Stake (PoS) model, and enabling protocol governance by its holders. The relationship of XPL with the mobilization of stablecoins is unique: while the network allows USDT transfers with zero fees for the end user through a 'paymaster' system that sponsors the gas, the protocol uses XPL in the background to cover network services.
Additionally, even when users choose to pay fees in custom gas tokens like USDT or pBTC, the system is designed so that the use of these stablecoins increases the value of XPL through a fee-burning mechanism inspired by EIP-1559, creating deflationary pressure that offsets the reward issuance for validators.
Token distribution
Regarding token distribution, the model seeks to balance incentives between institutional development and community participation. 40% of the total supply (4 billion XPL) is reserved for ecosystem growth, with 8% unlocked from launch for DeFi incentives and the rest released monthly over three years. The community received 10% (1 billion XPL) through a public sale that raised 373 million dollars, where buyers outside the U.S. gained immediate access to the launch, while U.S. buyers faced a 12-month lock-up.
On the other hand, the development team and the initial investors each have an allocation of 25%, summing up to the remaining 50% of the supply. To ensure a long-term commitment, both the team and investors are subject to a one-year cliff period, followed by a monthly prorated release over the next two years, completing their total unlocking three years after the mainnet launch. It is noteworthy that the locked tokens from these groups cannot be used to generate staking rewards, thus protecting circulating token holders from excessive dilution.
Issuance of the XPL token of Plasma - Bit2Me Academy
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A before and after in the stablecoin sector
Plasma (XPL) marks a before and after in the crypto industry by offering a network where stablecoins are the true protagonists and not mere secondary assets. By shifting the focus from speculation to real utility, the protocol manages to break down the most persistent barrier of Web3: operational friction. The elimination of the need to hold volatile tokens to cover 'gas', thanks to its innovative paymaster system and custom gas tokens, radically transforms the user experience, allowing the sending of digital dollars to be as intuitive and direct as any traditional financial application.
Beyond ease of use, Plasma's proposal is solidified through a cutting-edge technical architecture. The implementation of PlasmaBFT consensus ensures near-instant finality, while the security anchoring in the Bitcoin blockchain provides institutional-grade robustness that few Layer 1s can claim. This balance between the agility of the EVM and the immutability of Bitcoin creates an ideal trust environment for both retail users and large financial entities.
Ultimately, the success of Plasma does not only reside in its technology but in a balanced economic model. The XPL token acts as the silent engine of this ecosystem, capturing value through deflationary mechanisms inspired by EIP-1559, even when users operate exclusively with stablecoins. With top-tier institutional backing and liquidity already in the billions, Plasma establishes itself as the ultimate infrastructure for digital money to finally achieve everyday, global, and borderless use, leading the transition to a truly scalable programmable economy.
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B2M Author
José Maldonado
Crypto content writer at Bit2Me Academy
José Maldonado is an expert in managing Linux, BSD, and Windows systems. He also has experience in monitoring and managing servers, hardening systems, and deploying services. He became interested in blockchain technology early on and is currently an expert in Blockchain and DeFi.
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