Let me say it the way I would explain it to a friend. This whole idea of friendship and talking to someone you know really well starts with a feeling that most people have experienced at some point. I want to talk about this feeling that we all know this idea that we're all familiar, with.
You hit Send. Then you look at the screen for a moment. You just sit there. Wait to see what happens with the message you just sent.
This is not because you are a person. Payments have taught you to have doubts. Even when you see the word "confirmed" a part of your mind is still wondering: Is the payment really done? Will something go wrong? Did I pay the amount of money? Do I need to wait for the payment to be confirmed a few times? It is during that moment of waiting that you start to lose trust, in the payment process. The payment is where trust gets lost. Payments make you lose trust.
That is honestly the way I look at Plasma. I think about Plasma in this way because it helps me understand Plasma. Plasma is something that I consider from this perspective.
Plasma is not trying to be the flashy Blockchain network. Plasma is trying to build a kind of Blockchain network where Plasma stablecoin payments feel very normal. You should not even think about the Blockchain network anymore. The goal of Plasma is simple: when you send dollars with Plasma it should feel like sending money with Plasma not like you are watching a transaction, with Plasma.
Stablecoins are already working like the money we use every day.. When we use them it does not feel like we are using real money.
Stablecoins are like the dollars of the internet. People use stablecoins for lots of things. They use stablecoins to save money. They use stablecoins to send money to people. Some people even get their payroll in stablecoins. Businesses use stablecoins to make payments. People also use stablecoins to trade. This is especially true in places where the local money's not very stable. People, in these places do not want to hold onto the currency because it feels risky. They would rather hold onto stablecoins.
The thing is, stablecoins usually work on systems that were not made for payments. You can see this problem in all the things that are really annoying:
You have money. To do something you need another thing called a gas token. This gas token is necessary to pay for the gas. You cannot just use the dollars you have to pay for the gas. You really need this other token.
Fees can go up at the possible time. This is really bad, for people who have to pay them. Fees are a problem because they can increase when you are not expecting it. The worst time for fees to jump is when you have no money to pay them. Fees can. That is what makes them so difficult to deal with.
You sit there and watch the transaction happen it is like you are seeing something that is happening now like a live event. The transaction is taking place. You are seeing every part of it like it is a show or something. You are actually watching the transaction, the thing as it happens.
“Fast” doesn’t always mean “final”
When I look at Plasma I do not see another Layer 1. I see a chain that is basically saying:
Stablecoins are already a thing. We should focus on building the system around stablecoins. That is the reality we are dealing with so we need to work with stablecoins, in mind.
Money feels safe when it is in a place. This is what makes people feel good about their money. Neutrality is important for money because it does not take sides. Money is money it is not bad or good it just is. When money is neutral people can use it without worrying about what others think. Neutrality is what makes money feel safe. That is a good thing, for people who have money.
People use the word "all the time like it is some kind of big phrase.. When we talk about payments being neutral is not just something you say to sound good. Payments need to be neutral. They will not work. Neutral is what makes payments survive.
The digital dollars that people use to send money to each other no where they are in the world need to be simple. Digital dollars should work the same for everyone no matter if you are a person or a business. The system that handles dollars has to be fair and not change just because of who is using digital dollars or where they are, from. Digital dollars should just work, every time without any problems so people can use dollars without worrying about the system that handles digital dollars.
That is why Plasma talks about Bitcoin-anchored security and censorship resistance. The main point is to make the ledger really hard to tamper with really hard to alter and really hard to control. This is not because Bitcoin sounds like a thing. But because the system that handles money has to be strong. Money rails have to be solid they cannot be weak. Plasma wants to use Bitcoin to make sure of this. Bitcoin-anchored security is important, to Plasma because it helps to keep the ledger safe.
When it is your salary, your rent, your inventory money, your business cash flow you do not want any problems. You want to know exactly what is going on. Your business cash flow is very important to you. You want to be sure, about your salary and your rent and your inventory money and your business cash flow.
Gas is, like a hidden fee that we do not see. It is the tax that really ruins our payments. When we make payments gas is the thing that makes them more expensive. Gas is the tax that we have to pay and it is really frustrating because we do not even see it. The invisible tax of gas is what ruins our payments and makes things cost money.
Here is the part that has always felt backwards:
You can hold stablecoins which're basically digital dollars. These digital dollars are known as stablecoins.
The system is of a pain because it makes you go and find a separate token just so you can move the tokens. You have to get this token and that is what the system requires you to do in order to move the tokens.
That is fine if you are a crypto person who enjoys the complexity. For users crypto is a problem. For merchants crypto is confusing. For adoption it is a big obstacle. Crypto adoption is what we want. Crypto is getting in the way.
Plasma tries to make stablecoins behave like money should. It wants stablecoins to be really stable like the money we use every day. Plasma is working on this because it thinks that stablecoins should be a lot like the cash we have in our wallets. The people, behind Plasma believe that stablecoins should be something we can rely on, like money. Plasma is trying to make sure that stablecoins are used in the way that we use money.
Fees that do not make you put your money into an investment are really what people want.
The idea of fees is to help manage the money you have in your account.
Sometimes these fees can be a problem because they make you take your money out of one thing and put it into another.
This can be bad, for the person who owns the account because they do not want to deal with a lot of investments.
So fees that do not force you into an asset are very helpful.
stablecoin-first design choices
and even gasless USDT transfers (in a controlled way)
The point is not that things are free forever. The point is that we should stop making people do work just to send money. We should make it easy for people to send dollars without having to do a lot of things. The whole idea is to make sending dollars simple. Sending dollars should not be a deal.
The thing that is finality is what lets you stop thinking about something. Finality is, like the end of a road. When you reach the end of the road you can stop walking. Finality is what gives you that feeling of being done with something so you can stop thinking about the finality of it all.
A lot of chains try to sell people on the idea of speed. They make it seem like speed is everything.. The truth is, speed is not the whole story when it comes to chains. Chains are a lot more, than just speed.
People really want that moment when they know the payment is done. They do not want to feel like they have to check to make sure the payment is done. The merchant does not hesitate when the payment is done. People do not wonder if the payment can be reversed when they know the payment is done.
PlasmaBFT is trying to give people a few things. It wants to make sure that PlasmaBFT can settle things quickly. But what is more important to PlasmaBFT is that it can give people a sense of finality that they can really count on. PlasmaBFT is, about making sure that when something is settled it is really settled for good and people can trust that PlasmaBFT will make this happen.
When you are dealing with money in life a payment that makes you feel unsure is really not a payment at all. A payment like that is, like something that makes you wonder what is going on.
You have a payment that makes you doubt. That is a problem. The payment that makes you doubt is not a payment it is a question mark. You look at the payment that makes you doubt and you think to yourself what is this payment that makes you doubt is it really a payment. Is it something else.
The payment that makes you doubt is not something you can trust it is not something that feels right. The payment that makes you doubt is a question mark it is something that needs to be figured out.
Plasma is really trying to get rid of the question mark. The thing is Plasma does not want to see that question mark. Plasma is doing its best to make the question mark disappear.
So why does EVM compatibility really matter to people who use it every day? EVM compatibility is important because it makes things work together in a simple way. When something is EVM compatible it means that it can work with things that use EVM, which is a big help.
EVM compatibility is what makes it possible for different systems to talk to each other and share information. This is really useful for people who need to use tools and platforms to get their work done.
For example if someone is building an application they will want to make sure that it is EVM compatible so that it can work with other EVM compatible tools. This makes it easier for people to use the application and get the most out of it.
In short EVM compatibility matters because it helps people get things done easily and quickly. It is a thing to consider when building new tools and platforms because it can make a big difference in how useful they are, to the people who use them. EVM compatibility is something that can help people work efficiently and effectively which is why it is so important.
Building a payment chain is not enough. If people cannot add to it easily then the payment chain will not work. The payment chain needs to be easy to use so that people can build on the payment chain.
So Plasma is keeping compatibility with EVM. That is a good thing, for the people who build things. The developers of Plasma can use the tools they are used to. The apps that are made on Plasma do not have to start from scratch and make everything new. This way it is easier for them to work together with things. Plasma is making it easier for the builders of Plasma to do their job.
This is important because the way people make payments does not become popular just because it is trendy. The payment system people use becomes popular when it is easy to use with things when it works all the time and when people get used to using it every day. Payments infrastructure becomes a part of our lives when it is integrated into the things we already use when it is reliable and when it becomes a routine part of what we do.
I believe that what Plasma is really trying to do is make things better. Plasma is trying to achieve something. From what I can see Plasma is really aiming for something. Plasma wants to make a difference, with what Plasma's doing.
When you really think about it Plasma is trying to sell one thing:
Peace of mind.
Not in a soft, emotional way—in a very practical way.
The peace that comes when you hit Send and you do not feel your stomach get all tight.
You know money is money.
The kind of peace where merchants do not argue about things, like "wait did the money go through?"
The kind of peace where the money just works like it is supposed to and that is a great thing.
If Plasma succeeds the biggest sign will not be an announcement. Plasma will probably just be working quietly in the background. That is when we will know that Plasma is really successful that Plasma is doing what it is supposed to do.
It’ll be the opposite.
You’ll send digital dollars… and you won’t even think about it.
