Plasma, the innovative Layer 1 blockchain focused on stablecoins, has officially announced the launch date for its mainnet beta and its native token, XPL. The highly-anticipated event is set for Thursday, September 25, at 8:00 AM ET, backed by Bitfinex and supported by the Founders Fund led by billionaire Peter Thiel.
In a recently published blog post, the Plasma team shared that the mainnet beta will debut with a robust $2 billion in stablecoin liquidity, seamlessly integrated with over 100 decentralized finance (DeFi) partners such as Aave, Ethena, Fluid, and Euler. Plasma aims to facilitate a financial ecosystem that not only preserves value but also boasts deep USDT markets and some of the most competitive USDT borrowing rates in the industry. Positioned as an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible L1 with a native Bitcoin bridge, Plasma is offering a promising alternative in the expanding crypto landscape.
As part of the mainnet launch, users will have the ability to bridge vault deposits to Plasma, allowing for withdrawals of USD₮0, Tether’s omnichain version of USDT. An exciting feature at launch will be the introduction of zero-fee USDT transfers through Plasma’s dashboard, although this will be initially restricted to Plasma’s own products, with expanded access expected in the future.
In terms of token distribution, the launch will see 25 million XPL tokens allocated to smaller depositors and verified participants. Additionally, 2.5 million tokens are earmarked for the Stablecoin Collective, a community initiative designed to foster stablecoin adoption. However, U.S. participants who took part in the public sale will have to wait until July 2026 to receive their tokens due to regulatory constraints.
The interest around Plasma has been remarkable. Following the introduction of its initial coin offering deposit vault in June, the project experienced overwhelming demand for access to the XPL token. Originally capped at $250 million, the vault was quickly expanded to $1 billion, which was entirely filled in just 30 minutes. By late July, the public sale of tokens concluded with over $373 million committed for $50 million worth of XPL. A recent initiative involving a pre-deposit vault for Maple’s syrupUSDT on Plasma, which also offered participants XPL allocations, was filled in less than a minute, further highlighting investor enthusiasm.
Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of Split Capital, commented on this exceptional funding milestone, describing it as “the largest publicly confirmed oversubscription in liquid crypto in recent history.” The strong interest reflects a growing appetitive for stablecoin exposure within the market, positioning Plasma as a significant player to watch as it prepares to launch its mainnet beta.
As the launch date approaches, eyes will be on Plasma to see how effectively it can leverage its liquidity, partnerships, and innovative features to solidify its standing in the competitive landscape of DeFi and stablecoins.
