According to The Block: The Echo platform founded by Cobie has launched a new ICO public offering platform called Sonar, with Plasma as its first project.
Plasma co-founder Paul Faecks told The Block that the project will sell 10% of its total supply of XPL tokens to the public through a public sale, with a fundraising goal of $50 million.
Echo is an angel investment platform founded by well-known crypto trader Jordan Fish (better known by his online name Cobie). In February of this year, Cobie first revealed plans to build an ICO platform, and now this platform named Sonar has officially launched, with its first fundraising project being Plasma.
Plasma is a new blockchain built for stablecoins, with 10% (1 billion tokens) of a total supply of 10 billion XPL tokens being sold on the Sonar platform, priced at $0.05 per XPL, reaching a total fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $500 million.
According to Faecks, the pre-deposit phase for the XPL token sale will open on June 9, with the official sale starting a few weeks later. Users globally can participate in this public offering, except for UK residents and users in sanctioned regions. US participants must lock their tokens for 12 months, while most users in other regions will have a lock-up period of 40 days.
The token valuation for this public offering aligns with the recent 'equity + token subscription rights' investment valuation from Founders Fund in Plasma. Faecks stated that last week, Founders Fund invested an undisclosed amount in the project. Prior to this, Plasma raised a total of $24 million through seed and Series A funding, with investors including Peter Thiel, Cobie, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, Bitfinex, USDT0, and Bybit.
Faecks added that users participating in the XPL public offering need to deposit USDT, USDC, or USDS (formerly DAI) into the Plasma vault on Ethereum. Users' token allocations will be based on their 'time-weighted deposit ratio.' Once the pre-deposit period ends, these positions will be locked until the Plasma mainnet beta is launched, at which point XPL tokens will be distributed.
Cobie has not yet responded to requests for comments from The Block.
What is Plasma?
Plasma is a new type of blockchain under construction, designed for stablecoin economies. This chain will operate as a sidechain to Bitcoin, running parallel to the Bitcoin network but remaining independent and fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making it easier for developers to build Ethereum-style decentralized applications on Plasma.
The XPL token plays a core role in the system: it secures the operation of the PlasmaBFT consensus mechanism, drives EVM execution based on Reth, and supports the trust-minimized Bitcoin cross-chain bridge." - Official introduction of Plasma
Currently, the Plasma blockchain is in a private testing phase. Faecks stated that a public testnet is expected to be launched in the coming weeks, with the mainnet planned to be launched by the end of this summer.
Use of funds
When asked how the $50 million raised from this plan would be used, Faecks said, "We are rapidly expanding the team and building local infrastructure in key areas." The Plasma team currently has 25 members and is hiring for more technical and business positions.
Vision of Plasma
Faecks stated that Plasma's long-term goal is to provide scalability support for the stablecoin economy, including enabling zero-fee USDT transfers.
"Our ecosystem is taking shape. We are integrating with several key DeFi protocols (such as Ethena, Aave, Morpho, Curve, and Maker) and collaborating with global infrastructure providers focused on payments," Faecks stated. "We are also deepening localized deployments with institutional partners and entities in key regions."
