Plasma was one of Ethereum’s first real scaling plays, back when gas was cheap but already heading in the wrong direction. The idea was simple: don’t force every transaction onto L1. Move activity off-chain, keep costs low, but still anchor security to Ethereum.
Plasma chains batch transactions and only post proofs to the main chain. If the operator ever messes up or goes offline, users can exit back to L1 with their funds. That exit game is what made Plasma interesting — not trust, but verification.
It wasn’t perfect. Exits were slow, UX was rough, and complex smart contracts didn’t fit well. Payments and simple transfers were the sweet spot.
Still, Plasma mattered. A lot. Rollups didn’t come out of nowhere. The whole “off-chain execution, on-chain security” mindset started here. Plasma walked so modern L2s could run.
