At the beginning of 2026, the crypto market is still in a bear market oscillation, pushing the 'stablecoin infrastructure' to the extreme—@Plasma. It's not a general L1; it has only done one thing since its inception: allowing stablecoins like USDT/USDC to flow globally with zero friction, just like sending a WeChat message. The core selling point can be summarized in one sentence: zero fee USDT transfers + sub-second confirmation + gas can be paid with stablecoins/BTC. By sponsoring gas at the protocol level, ordinary users can make a stablecoin transfer without holding $XPL, or even knowing what gas is. This directly crushes the pain points of traditional chains—cross-border remittances taking days + high fees? Plasma allows digital dollars to arrive instantly and without friction. The latest data speaks (DefiLlama January 17):
Bridged TVL $7.234B (Native $4.835B + Third Party $2.399B), stablecoin market cap $1.918B (USDT dominates 78.98%), the 4th largest chain for USDT holdings globally.
Top protocols: Aave TVL $2.842B (7d +8.13%), Pendle $1.079B, Fluid $416M, etc. DEX 24h volume $77M, weekly growth of 82%, App Revenue averages nearly $74K per day.
The ecosystem integrates 25+ stablecoins, 100+ partners, covering payments in 150+ countries and 200+ methods.
The consumer side is even fiercer: Plasma One neobank app has launched, supporting high-yield savings (some over 10%), 4% cashback on spending, and virtual cards. Just partnered with Rain on January 8, partners can issue stablecoin cards on Plasma, seamlessly connecting to 150 million merchants worldwide. Latin American payment giant SDK will launch by the end of Q1, covering over 50 million users, directly capturing the dollarization demand in high-inflation countries (like Argentina and Turkey). The technical foundation is solid: PlasmaBFT consensus (Fast HotStuff derivative), TPS in the thousands + sub-second finality, EVM compatible, low migration costs for developers. Bitcoin bridging + institutional endorsements (Paolo Ardoino, Peter Thiel, Bitfinex) enhance security and trust. Of course, rationally speaking, there are risks:
$XPL is currently $0.14, market cap $297M, FDV $1.44B. The price has fallen from ATH, with significant short-term volatility.
On January 25, 88.89M XPL (about $13-14M, circulation 4.9%) will be unlocked, with a major unlock of 2.5B in July (US part), so beware of selling pressure.
Daily active users dropped from a peak of 137K to about 78K, truly testing organic adoption rather than incentive farming.
But in a word: stablecoins are the killer application of 2026 (global transfer of trillions), Plasma executes the most purely and focused. It's not about chasing memes or generalized DeFi, but about reshaping 'Money 2.0'—the infrastructure narrative is slowly building but bullish, like early ETH. If you believe stablecoins will consume the traditional payment pie, Plasma is likely the infrastructure king. $XPL is undervalued? The ecosystem is taking off, and a long-term perspective is worth laying low.
Have you already transferred/lent/harvested yields on Plasma? Share your gameplay~ Let's connect and communicate!
