The Rise of Dedicated Public Chains for Stablecoins: A Comparative Analysis of Plasma and Stable

Stablecoins are gradually penetrating the traditional financial sector and retail market, with their application scenarios continuously expanding. To support this trend of expansion, the demand for new infrastructure has also emerged. Recently, two blockchain projects focused on stablecoins, Plasma and Stable, have attracted market attention.

The Similarities between Plasma and Stable

Plasma and Stable aim to achieve faster, cheaper, and more scalable stablecoin transfer functionalities. Their core strategy is to absorb funds from older networks that are less efficient but still hold a large amount of stablecoins. The most notable commonality between the two networks is that they both use USDT as their core and have integrated USDT0 - a fragmentation-resistant version of USDT that can be natively exchanged across different blockchain networks through LayerZero.

Features of Plasma

Plasma is built as a Bitcoin sidechain, inheriting Bitcoin's security through an anchoring mechanism while maintaining its own independent consensus mechanism. It is designed for high throughput and fast confirmation, making it very suitable for quick transfers of USDT. The most prominent feature of Plasma is that transferring the underlying USDT incurs no GAS fees at all; its profit model relies on the GAS fees from other on-chain operations. Additionally, Plasma is fully compatible with EVM, facilitating the deployment of Ethereum applications.

Characteristics of Stable

Stable is an independent Layer 1 network that uses a self-developed proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Similar to Plasma, Stable is also EVM compatible, and USDT transfers do not require Gas fees. However, Stable only accepts USDT as the currency for Gas fee payments and focuses more on enterprise and institutional clients. Stable plans to launch enterprise-exclusive blockchain space services and USDT transfer aggregators, among other institution-friendly features.

Privacy Policy

Both networks place a high emphasis on privacy protection. Plasma has proposed the concept of Shielded transactions, while Stable employs confidential transfer technology, both aiming to protect transaction privacy under compliance.

Market Potential Analysis

The core strategy of this type of public chain focused on stablecoins is to target the weak ecosystem of DeFi for liquidity absorption. They are not just competing but are also building a hub centered around USDT payments and commercial settlements. With advantages such as free transfers, these new public chains are expected to attract a large amount of liquidity, thereby giving rise to new DeFi protocols and ultimately forming a truly vibrant ecosystem.

This development may give rise to a new SWIFT-like system specifically serving stablecoins. In this system, Tether will not only be the issuer of stablecoins but also become a dual cornerstone supporting currency value and underlying infrastructure. Tether can benefit from this, while Plasma and Stable will enjoy the dividends brought by the rapid flow of funds on its network.

Recent Developments of Plasma

Plasma has gained significant attention through its public token sale, with total deposits within the subscription limit reaching $1 billion. Additionally, Plasma has collaborated with several projects, including Yellow Card, which focuses on USDT transfers in Africa, BiLira Kripto, which connects the Turkish lira with stablecoins, and Uranium Digital, which brings commodity trading onto the blockchain.

Conclusion

The concept of "stablecoin chain" may be a clever marketing strategy that both creates a spotlight effect for USDT and attracts users with the gimmick of zero Gas fees. Essentially, this is a free value-added model in the trading field. Both chains are ready, and the key to the future lies in how they compete differently, choose the best market channels, and whether they can build a sustainable business ecosystem.