Plasma is a stablecoin-native Layer 1 blockchain engineered for high-throughput, low-cost money movement. Rather than serving as a general-purpose execution layer, Plasma focuses on one thing: stablecoins.

Designed for stablecoins from the ground up, Plasma powers near instant, fee-free payments with institutional-grade security - featuring 1k+ transactions per second, near-instant finality, and zero-fee USD₮ transfers.

In this post, we’ll dive into what Plasma is, why developers should build on Plasma, and how to get started on Plasma with 0x today.

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What is Plasma?

Plasma is a Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoins. It enables zero-fee USD₮ transfers, custom gas tokens, and confidential transactions while maintaining full EVM compatibility. Powered by PlasmaBFT, a Fast HotStuff-derived consensus protocol, Plasma achieves high throughput, sub-12-second block times, and efficient finality for global-scale.

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Key features:

• Zero-fee USD₮ transfers: For simple transfers, the network sponsors gas, so users don’t need to hold the native token to send USDT.
• Custom gas tokens: To simplify the user experience, Plasma enables transaction fees to be paid in whitelisted assets such as USD₮ or BTC.
• Confidential but compliant transactions: Send payments without revealing private transaction details through confidential transactions.
• High throughput & fast finality: Designed to handle thousands of TPS and sub-one-second block finality.
• EVM compatibility: Plasma allows seamless deployment of Ethereum-based contracts. No code modifications needed.

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Why does Plasma matter?

Stablecoins are one of the killer apps in crypto: trillions flow monthly, and they are increasingly used for payments, remittances, and on/off ramps The total value of the stablecoin market is almost $300 billion.

But the current infrastructure is suboptimal:

• Users must first acquire a native token (ETH, etc.) just to pay gas.
• High gas fees make microtransactions impractical.
• Blockchains designed for general computation incur tradeoffs for payments.
• Fragmented stablecoin liquidity across chains increases complexity and overhead.

Plasma is designed specifically for stablecoin applications, where users expect instant, costless transactions.

• No gas token friction: Simple transfers don’t require native XPL. Send USDT with zero fees.
• Stablecoin-native design: Every system component is optimized for USDT and other fiat-backed assets.
• Global scalability: Thousands of TPS, offering scalability and performance to absorb high volume.
• Developer-friendly: Seamless Solidity deployment through an EVM-compatible runtime.

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Why build on Plasma?

For developers and protocols focused on payments, remittances, or DeFi settlement, Plasma offers an environment where stablecoins are first-class citizens. It eliminates the friction that typically comes with transacting on Ethereum and other EVM networks - no need to acquire a native gas token, no unpredictable fee markets, and no performance bottlenecks when scaling to millions of users.

Because Plasma’s design targets the real-world use case of sending and receiving stablecoins, it allows developers to build applications that feel like traditional FinTech products in speed and usability, but with the security and transparency of blockchain infrastructure. 

The network’s deterministic finality ensures predictable transaction confirmation times, while its scalability opens the door for microtransactions, onchain payroll, and cross-border settlement without cost overhead. For developers, this combination of 100% EVM compatibility and stablecoin optimizations makes Plasma a foundation for the next generation of stablecoin-based financial applications.

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Start building on Plasma with 0x

0x Swap API is live on Plasma. Developers can integrate Plasma liquidity directly into their apps, whether wallets, trading platforms, or more, using the 0x API stack.

As stablecoin demand continues to scale globally, Plasma provides the infrastructure to support frictionless movement of digital dollars, with 0x providing the institutional-grade trading infrastructure to make this a reality.

Get started building today with our developer docs.

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