Yesterday, I transferred money to an overseas friend. The traditional bank charged a $50 fee and it took three days. I was really frustrated at the time. As a result, a friend recommended trying Plasma, this blockchain. I made a USDT transfer—instant arrival! The fee was just a few cents! The experience was truly outstanding.

I took a quick look at the background. Plasma was founded in 2024, and its mainnet launched in 2025. Backed by top-tier institutions like a16z. Its logic is very clear: not building a large all-in-one public chain, but focusing on one thing—creating a high-speed global payment highway for stablecoins. Essentially, it’s building a dedicated channel for on-chain USDT.

The application layer is even more interesting. You can use tools like Rain Cards or Oobit to spend USDT directly at major merchants like Amazon and Starbucks. People who often shop abroad can save a lot on exchange rate losses. There’s also LocalPay, which specifically serves Southeast Asia, covering a remittance market worth $14 billion—workers sending money home with fees so low they’re almost negligible.

The technical details are also worth noting. Plasma uses PlasmaBFT consensus. No need to fully understand the principles—results are: confirmation in seconds, thousands of transactions per second. It’s also compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem, making migration easy for developers. Recently, they also integrated a Bitcoin bridge, so BTC can cross over too.

This combination really hits the pain points of international transfers—speed, cost, and application convenience. Compared to the traditional finance experience of three days and a $50 fee, having more options is definitely a good thing.