Plasma, a blockchain built specifically for moving digital dollars at scale, announced that its mainnet beta will go live on Thursday, September 25 at 8:00 AM ET, and will launch its native token, XPL, alongside the network. The company says the chain will start with roughly $2 billion in stablecoins active on day one and that capital will be deployed across more than 100 DeFi partners such as Aave, Ethena, Fluid and Euler to provide immediate on-chain utility.
The announcement frames the mainnet beta as the culmination of a months-long rollout that began with early access through Echo and a community-driven deposit campaign. Plasma says its deposit campaign committed more than $1 billion in stablecoin liquidity in just over 30 minutes, and a public sale conducted on Echo drew $373 million of commitments, roughly 7x its original $50 million cap. Together with a strategic partnership with Binance Earn, Plasma claims it has built a substantial liquidity foundation ahead of launch.
Plasma positions itself as a payments-first chain engineered for stablecoin flows. The mainnet beta will introduce PlasmaBFT, a high-throughput consensus layer the team says is optimized for stablecoin traffic. At launch, users will be able to move USD₮ (Tether-pegged stablecoin) with zero fees using authorization-based transfers through Plasma’s dashboard; initially, zero-fee transfers will be limited to Plasma’s own products as the network rolls out and stress-tests the feature. The firm also emphasised composability and low latency for builders targeting payments, FX, card rails and on/off ramps.
Broad Ownership, Staged Distribution
Plasma’s native token XPL will both secure the network and act as the economic alignment point for validators, app builders and users. The company says 10% of the XPL supply was sold in the public sale. In addition, on launch, the protocol will distribute 25 million XPL to recognize smaller depositors who completed Sonar (by Echo) verification and took part in the sale, while 2.5 million XPL will be reserved for members of the Stablecoin Collective, a community forum Plasma created to drive education and adoption.
Specific community recognitions include allocations for OGs, contributors, and early contributors. There are jurisdictional limits on delivery: Plasma will distribute XPL to non-US participants at mainnet beta, while US participants will receive distributions on July 28, 2026, in line with the company’s legal framework and restrictions. The announcement makes repeated note of regulatory uncertainty and frames the staggered distribution as compliance-driven.
In its writeup, Plasma argues that stablecoins have become “the most significant financial innovation since the creation of money,” particularly in emerging markets where digital dollars can preserve purchasing power, speed remittances, and enable merchant acceptance without traditional gatekeepers. The company says its mission is to become the rails for global money movement, including P2P cash networks to reach users who remain excluded by legacy finance.
If Plasma can deliver on its promise of instant, low-cost USD₮ rails with meaningful partner integration, it will add a significant new player to the payments-oriented layer-1 landscape. But transforming stablecoins into everyday money will require sustained adoption, regulatory cooperation and real-world merchant integration, goals Plasma says the mainnet beta is designed to accelerate.
