While stablecoin giants have dominated the crypto payments landscape for years, a new contender has emerged with heavyweight backing. Plasma, a Bitcoin-based blockchain specifically designed for stablecoins, recently secured $20-24 million in Series A funding led by Framework Ventures, with notable investors including billionaire Peter Thiel and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
The crypto payments arena welcomes a formidable challenger as Plasma secures major funding from industry titans Thiel and Ardoino.
This isn’t their first rodeo. Plasma previously raised $4 million in seed funding, bringing their total war chest to somewhere between $24-28 million. Pretty decent for a company aiming to upend the trillion-dollar stablecoin market.
What makes Plasma different? Zero fees. Yep, you read that right. While other networks nickel and dime you for moving your digital dollars around, Plasma is building a platform where USDT transfers won’t cost a penny. They’re stripping away unnecessary blockchain features and focusing exclusively on what is important: moving stablecoins efficiently.
The tech behind it is no joke. Plasma leverages Bitcoin’s security framework while maintaining full compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine. It’s fundamentally a sidechain on the Bitcoin blockchain, purpose-built for stablecoins. Smart.
The timing couldn’t be better. With stablecoin supply exceeding $220 billion and Tether commanding a whopping 70% market share, the opportunity is massive. People are increasingly using stablecoins for everyday payments and savings, despite regulatory headaches in the US.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Plasma isn’t charging individual users for transactions. Instead, they’ll make money from service providers like Curve and Aave. It’s a scale play, pure and simple.
The competition should be worried. Ethereum, Tron, and Solana have all carved out pieces of the stablecoin pie, but none offer zero-fee transfers with Bitcoin-level security. The company is focusing on creating deep liquidity infrastructure specifically designed for stablecoins, something current blockchains lack. The company will need to navigate regulatory challenges related to stablecoin compliance and money transmission laws as it grows.
Users will have to wait though—Plasma’s testnet and mainnet won’t launch until Q2 2025. By then, the stablecoin landscape could look entirely different. But with Thiel’s backing and zero fees, Plasma might just have a fighting chance.
