When the Tether-backed, stablecoin-focused blockchain Plasma saw its $250 million deposit vault fill nearly instantly on June 9, the founders doubled the deposit cap to $500 million on the spot. Despite that, the sale was dominated by whales and bots — so much so that a few days later, they raised the cap to $1 billion. That was filled in 30 minutes.
The raise was not a sale of Plasma’s forthcoming XPL token, but rather deposits to win the right to participate in the sale, which was raising $50 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) at a $500 million valuation.
Plasma calls itself a blockchain “purpose-built for stablecoins,” a type of Bitcoin sidechain optimized for stablecoin transactions. It offers Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, high speeds and zero-fee USDT transfers for simple payments, as well as gas fees in USDT or BTC for more complex ones. It has the backing of stablecoin issuer Tether and its sister exchange Bitfinex, as well as Peter Thiel’s Founder’s Fund, among others.
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