This week, I've been watching the price of $XPLand it's been stuck around $0.12.
Many people in the group are complaining: "With so many positive developments in the ecosystem, why isn't the coin price rising?"
The logic is actually quite simple: because it's been focusing so intensely on internal development, it's scared everyone, but its "external capabilities" haven't been fully unleashed yet.
Let me break down @Plasma's current situation from a different perspective.
Its current strategy is extreme internal optimization.
On-chain, it has no competitors. Ethena provides allocation, Aave provides the market, and USDT provides liquidity. It has maximized the efficiency of "fund retention and appreciation" to the highest level. Once funds enter, they don't want to leave, because there's nowhere else outside that offers such a smooth and high-interest environment.
This has led to one result: Plasma has become a huge black hole for capital.
But this is only one side of the coin.
The other side of the coin is that it's trying to use this extreme internal efficiency to force changes in the external world.
Look at its integration with Rain cards and Holyheld; it's actually very aggressive.
It's betting on a logic: when the cost of capital on-chain is low enough and the circulation is fast enough, real-world merchants will be forced to adopt it out of "greed."
It's not asking merchants to use it; it's enticing them with profit margins.
If using Visa for payments deducts 3%, and using Plasma deducts 0 and generates interest instantly, any rational businessman will eventually gravitate towards the more efficient option.
But this takes time.
The current stalemate is that the on-chain ammunition (DeFi depth) is ready, but the off-chain targets (compliant payment scenarios) are not yet sufficiently established.
This is a tug-of-war between a perfect model and a chaotic reality.
I'm bullish on it, not because it's making a lot of money right now, but because it's doing something difficult but right.
Most L1s are catering to users' gambling instincts (issuing meme coins), but only Plasma is catering to the nature of capital (the pursuit of efficiency).
If this forced adoption logic works by 2026, it will no longer be just a public chain; it will be the only wormhole connecting two parallel universes.
At this point, don't rush to judge the price fluctuations.
Understanding this "internal optimization forcing external change" logic will allow you to hold onto it.
