Plasma is a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain specifically built for stablecoin infrastructure (especially USDT payments). It offers features like zero-fee USDT transfers, sub-second confirmations, full EVM compatibility, and Bitcoin-secured elements, aiming to solve pain points in stablecoin usage on general-purpose chains (high fees, slow speeds).
The key event was the XPL public token sale:
Planned to sell 10% of total supply (1 billion XPL tokens) at a $500 million fully diluted valuation (FDV).
Target raise: $50 million.
It became massively oversubscribed — deposits hit the initial $500 million cap extremely quickly (in minutes to under an hour), leading to cap increases and eventual commitments far exceeding targets (reports of $373 million raised in the sale phase).
This happened around June–July 2025, with the sale powered by Sonar (from Echo).
Backed by heavy hitters like Founders Fund, Bitfinex/Tether affiliates.
This "$500M" frenzy highlighted huge demand for stablecoin-optimized infrastructure, especially amid growing stablecoin adoption.
Post-launch highlights (as of late 2025 / early 2026):
Mainnet beta launched in September 2025 with billions in stablecoin liquidity seeded (e.g., $2B+ TVL on day one, later reports of $4B+ DeFi deposits).
Zero-fee USDT transfers and integrations with major DeFi protocols (Aave, Euler, etc.).
$XPL serves as the native gas/staking/governance token.
Current status (as of early February 2026):
$XPL trades around $0.09–$0.10 (with recent volatility, e.g., down ~30–35% over the past week in some snapshots).
Market cap in the low-mid hundreds of millions.
Still positioned as a specialized "stablechain" with strong ecosystem growth, though price has pulled back from earlier highs post-launch.