Key Insights:
- Plasma announced Plasma One, a stablecoin neobank with virtual and physical cards, offering over 10% yields and 4% cash back rewards.
- Platform addresses financial exclusion with zero-fee USDT transfers and coverage across 150 countries and 150 million merchants.
- Bloomberg projects that 17% of payments will flow through stablecoins by 2030.
Plasma announced on Sept. 22 its Plasma One stablecoin-native neobank and card platform, designed to provide permissionless access to saving, spending, and earning in dollars globally.
The announcement positioned stablecoins as fundamental infrastructure for hundreds of millions of people worldwide who faced financial exclusion from traditional banking systems.
The platform addresses friction in current stablecoin usage, including limited localized applications, reliance on generic crypto wallets, and difficult cash conversion processes.
Plasma One offers users the ability to pay directly from stablecoin balances while earning yields of over 10%, with coverage across 150 countries and 150 million merchants.
Backed by major stablecoin issuer Tether, Plasma’s native token XPL is set to launch on Sept. 25, marking progress toward the full platform rollout.
The announcement highlighted real-world use cases, from exporters in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar sourcing USDT on a weekly basis to store owners in Buenos Aires paying staff through stablecoin rails faster than traditional banking.
Plasma’s Technical Infrastructure Targets Multiple Use Cases
According to the announcement, Plasma differentiates itself through specialized stablecoin infrastructure offering gasless USDT transfers and sub-second settlement via PlasmaFBT technology.
The platform targets retail users, DeFi participants, and institutions with native yield integrations through partnerships with Aave and Binance.
The technical approach balanced decentralization with operational efficiency, implementing validator concentration controls while maintaining predictable, low-cost operations compared to Ethereum’s higher fees or TRON’s centralized structure.
Stablecoins Enter Mainstream Financial Ecosystem
Plasma’s launch aligns with broader industry momentum as major corporations integrate stablecoin functionality, or at least have plans to.
Crypto.com announced stablecoin launches alongside banking services for 2025, while Mastercard launched stablecoin payment support through partnerships with OKX and Nuvei.
Stripe and Paradigm unveiled Tempo, a layer-1 blockchain with a throughput of over 100,000 transactions per second, with partners including Deutsche Bank, OpenAI, and Visa.
The initiatives demonstrated institutional recognition of stablecoins as payment infrastructure rather than experimental technology.
GENIUS Act Creates Regulatory Foundation
The GENIUS Act provided crucial regulatory clarity for stablecoin operations, boosting the growth of these products further.
President Donald Trump signed the legislation on July 18, creating federal regulatory systems with 100% reserve backing requirements after bipartisan Senate passage.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent projected US stablecoin markets could grow eightfold to over $2 trillion.
The legislation established standards for reserve backing, audit requirements, and anti-money laundering compliance while taking effect within 18 months of enactment.
VanEck head of digital assets research Matthew Sigel highlighted Bloomberg Intelligence projections showing 17% of payments could flow through stablecoins by 2030.
The forecast indicated massive expansion across multiple sectors, with cross-border business-to-business transactions expected to reach 40% stablecoin penetration under bull case scenarios.
The Bloomberg Intelligence analysis projected total market consideration growing from $233.6 billion in 2024 to $332.9 billion by 2030.
Point-of-sale stablecoin penetration could reach 10% in bull scenarios, while e-commerce adoption might achieve 15% penetration rates.
Cross-border remittances showed particularly strong growth potential, with projections reaching 50% stablecoin penetration by 2030.
The consumer-to-consumer remittance market, currently at minimal penetration levels, could capture 35% market share under base case scenarios.
ProCap BTC CIO Jeff Park noted the transformative potential when USDT serves as a gas asset, noting that “the world looks quite different, the opportunity much bigger, the impact more purposeful.”
His analysis suggested principled builders focused on inclusive financial access would drive meaningful adoption.
Plasma One’s strategy centers on building efficient rails in global finance through stablecoins that offer cheaper, faster, and more reliable alternatives to legacy systems.
The platform planned to onboard partners, including on-and-off ramps, foreign exchange providers, card networks, and banks, through a seamless interface.
The announcement emphasized real impact through financial inclusion. Success metrics included users downloading the app from any country, accessing dollars, earning competitive yields, making payments through card taps, and sending money instantly without fees while maintaining security.
The stablecoin supply growth to $289 billion, expanding 29% in 2025 and 71% year-over-year, provided favorable market conditions for Plasma One’s launch.
With regulatory clarity from the GENIUS Act and Bloomberg projections showing potential 17% payment penetration by 2030, platforms offering genuine utility appeared positioned for substantial adoption.
Plasma’s 2025 timeline positions the platform to capitalize on regulatory certainty while addressing growing consumer demand for crypto-enabled banking services.