PlasmaXPL) was quite popular when the mainnet launched in September 2025, touted as a 'stablecoin killer chain', with zero-fee USDT transfers, 1-second block times, over 1000 TPS, and full EVM compatibility, making it capable of running DeFi directly. Backed by Bitfinex and Tether, the TVL surged to over $2 billion in stablecoins right from the start, ranking in the top ten, with major players like Aave and Ethena integrated. The price peaked at $1.68, and the FDV once soared to over $10 billion, causing retail investors to FOMO heavily.

Now in February 2026, reality has become more stark. The price has dropped to around $0.093, with a market cap of approximately $170-200 million, a circulation of about 2.2 billion, and a total supply of 10 billion. The 24-hour trading volume is around 70-90 million, which is still considered active, but it has fallen by over 94% from its peak. The TVL is now over $300 million (DefiLlama data), and the stablecoin balance is around $1.8 billion, still ranking high, but has significantly shrunk from its peak. There is significant unlocking pressure, especially with large-scale releases in between, and selling pressure has not ceased.

The ecosystem is slowly being built: YuzuMoneyX has surged to a 70M TVL, planning to establish a neobank in Southeast Asia; dForce's Maxshot Omni USDT Vault has been launched; there is also NEAR Intents cross-chain integration, making it easy to swap large amounts of stablecoins. The roadmap for Q1 includes staking and delegation launches, with a batch of unlocks from American investors in July. The team emphasizes that this is infrastructure, not a speculative chain, aiming to make stablecoin payments as smooth as sending emails.

However, with the bear market + competition (the STABLE chain has also been gaining traction recently), once the hype subsides, only practicality remains to be tested. Daily trading volume is high, but most is stuck in lending pools, with no real explosive payment scenarios. Many believe that if stablecoins truly become mainstream payments, XPL has a chance; in the short term, it’s likely to continue bottoming out, hovering around $0.09. For those interested, it’s recommended to check the official website plasma.to and on-chain data, rather than just chasing rebounds. In the crypto industry, the quality of infrastructure really matters, as it needs to be put to use with real money.