near

Honestly, when I saw the announcement on January 23rd, I immediately felt like this could really move the needle for @Plasma . We’re talking about a project built from the ground up to solve a real problem: moving stablecoins (mostly USDT and its little brother USDT0) ultra-fast, with zero gas fees and finality in about one second. And now they’re integrating NEAR Intents. Not some cute little feature no, this is a real connection that opens Plasma up to more than 25 blockchains and 125+ different assets, with swap prices at CEX level.

For anyone who’s been following Plasma since the beta mainnet launch at the end of September 2025, we all remember the hype: over $2 billion in stablecoins poured in on day one, TVL climbing to $6 billion at peak, partnerships with Aave, Pendle, Ethena… and then the brutal correction on the $XPL token, down over 90% from ATH. Right now it’s sitting around $0.11–0.12, which hurts, but the fundamentals haven’t gone anywhere. On the contrary, this NEAR integration feels like one of the most concrete answers yet to the question “how do we make Plasma actually useful every single day?”
Why NEAR Intents Actually Changes Everything
NEAR Intents isn’t just another bridge. It’s chain abstraction taken to the max. Basically, you say what you want (“I want to swap 50,000 USDT from Ethereum to Plasma” or “I want to settle a big payment in USDT0 from Solana”), and the system handles everything else: finding the best route, aggregating liquidity, managing MPC signatures (multi-party computation), all without you having to juggle multiple wallets or risky bridges.
The network of “solvers” (nodes that compete to execute your intent) guarantees competitive pricing, often right at CEX levels. And in 2025, NEAR Intents already processed over $10 billion in volume, with a huge chunk in USDT (39%, apparently). So Plasma is stepping straight into a massive liquidity pool without having to build it all from scratch.
For builders on Plasma, this is real: they can plug the 1Click Swap API directly into their dApps. Picture a lending protocol or a merchant tool that lets you swap assets from any major chain straight into USDT0 on Plasma, no friction. It makes the whole “zero-fee USDT” thing way more powerful because entry and exit become seamless.

#Plasma posted it on X on January 23rd: “Builders can now execute large-volume settlements and swaps onchain at CEX-equivalent pricing across 125+ assets.” Short, straight to the point, but it says everything. NEAR reposted right after, mentioning that USDT0 deposits/withdrawals on Plasma now go through their Intents app.
The Real-World Advantages and Why It Hurts Classic Bridges
• For big volumes (institutions, forex, e-commerce): you settle in USDT0 without dealing with slow, expensive traditional bridges.
• For regular users: cross-chain swaps without switching networks, paying volatile gas, or risking bridge hacks.
• For the Plasma ecosystem: more natural liquidity inflow → higher TVL, more activity, more fee revenue (burned via EIP-1559-like mechanism).
• Security side: MPC solvers + no centralized custody = way smaller attack surface than old-school bridges.
And the cherry on top: USDT0 transfers between Plasma and Ethereum recently became twice as fast. Add NEAR Intents on top of that, and it’s starting to look like a proper global payment rail.

The Flip Side (Let’s Be Real)
Of course, it’s not all sunshine. $XPL is still under massive sell pressure from the huge unlocks coming in 2026 (team, investors, ecosystem… roughly 3.5 billion more tokens vesting over the year). Even with this news, the price didn’t moon just a quick 5% pump then back down. The market stays skeptical, and daily activity is still moderate (40k tx/day, mostly USDT).
But personally, I think Plasma is playing in the right arena: stablecoins. That’s the narrative holding strongest in 2026 with institutional adoption picking up speed. Throw in Confirmo (a payment processor already doing +$80M/month and now accepting fee-free USDT0 on Plasma), Rain for payment cards, Maple for yield… and you start to see a real closed loop: money comes in, it works, you spend it in the real world, and you move it easily between chains.
What’s Next?
If Plasma manages to turn this infrastructure into real adoption (merchants, cross-border remittances, corporate payments), the unlocks might go almost unnoticed. Otherwise, it risks staying beautiful tech with not enough volume. But this #Near Intents integration is clearly a step in the right direction: making Plasma essential for anyone moving stablecoins at scale.
I’m keeping an eye on it. Not shilling just because the idea of a truly efficient stablecoin payment rail speaks to me. What do you think? Have you already tried a swap via NEAR Intents on Plasma?