Stablecoins are no longer experimental—they are now widely used for real payments. Billions in daily transaction volume, businesses leveraging them for commerce, and individuals sending remittances internationally all demonstrate their growing utility.Yet the infrastructure hasn’t fully caught up with the use case.
Consider this: when someone in the Philippines receives a $200 remittance, a $3 transaction fee represents 1.5% of the total. Better than traditional providers charging 5–8%, but still significant. The psychological impact matters too. Even small fees make users hesitate, asking, “Is this payment worth the cost?” That friction limits frequent, everyday use.@Plasma is building infrastructure where transaction costs are low enough to become irrelevant.The network is designed to support sub-cent fees at scale. A $0.008 fee per transaction means a $50 payment costs just 0.016%—essentially negligible for users. Suddenly, micro-payments become feasible: paying $3 for an article, sending $10 as a tip, or splitting a $30 bill among friends. These interactions simply don’t work when transaction costs are $1–$2 each.Cross-border remittances become dramatically cheaper too. Sending $200 with a $0.01 fee results in a 0.005% cost—over 1,000 times lower than traditional providers.
This efficiency comes from purpose-built design. Plasma is a Layer 1 EVM-compatible chain, optimized specifically for high-volume stablecoin payments rather than general-purpose computation. Simple, high-throughput transactions at minimal cost are its focus.The $XPL token integrates with this ecosystem to support transaction processing and incentivize participation, powering the network’s utility behind the scenes.For merchants, low transaction fees are critical. E-commerce margins often range from 5–15%; a 3% processing cost can significantly erode profit. At Plasma’s 0.01% transaction fee, payments become almost free, effectively eliminating cost as a barrier.High throughput is equally vital. Payment systems must handle thousands of transactions per second, even during peak shopping periods or major events, without slowing down.
What sets Plasma apart is specialization. Most chains attempt to support everything—DeFi, NFTs, gaming, general computation, and payments. Plasma focuses entirely on payments, addressing a single high-demand use case with precision. Stablecoins have proven demand; Plasma solves the last obstacles: transaction cost and scalability.By building purpose-built infrastructure, Plasma removes the barriers to real-world adoption, making digital payments fast, reliable, and truly practical.
