TL;DR

Plasma amassed $5.6B in TVL in its first week, surpassing Arbitrum and Base, and is now close to overtaking TRON in liquidity.
Its growth is driven by lending and savings vaults holding $3B, with Aave and Plasma Savings Vaults leading the way.
The XPL token pulled back from $1.67 to $1.33 but maintains $5B in trading volumes and projections of up to $2.50 thanks to its low float.

Plasma, the new Tether-backed stablecoin ecosystem, is capturing liquidity at a rapid pace and threatens TRON’s position as the leading network for USDT settlement.

In its first week of operations, the network already surpassed Arbitrum and Base in total value locked and now sits just behind TRON, which holds $6.1B. According to DeFiLlama, Plasma has accumulated $5.6B, though the protocol itself claims to have exceeded $7B in inflows.

What Drives Plasma’s Success?

The main growth engine has been its lending and savings vaults. The USD Vault drew in $212M in its first days, much of it from a wallet linked to Bitfinex. After some withdrawals, it now holds $44M, while other vaults have accumulated as much as $3B in liquidity. Aave has become the leading app, with Plasma Savings Vaults following closely behind.

Plasma’s rapid expansion is supported by its appeal as a zero-fee network hosting a native version of USDT. If the current pace continues, the chain could overtake TRON and move closer to BSC, which holds more than $7B in TVL. Some analysts already compare it to Solana in terms of liquidity and growth potential.

XPL Token Performance

The native token XPL has mirrored this expansion, though with notable volatility. After peaking at $1.67 over the weekend, it fell back to $1.33. Trading volume is concentrated on Binance with $2.56B, followed by $1.37B on OKX and $763M on Hyperliquid. On the latter, 56% of whales are holding long positions, including a leveraged $6.6M long that generated nearly $1M in unrealized gains.

XPL remains in price discovery. The token has no unlocks until 2026, keeping its circulation low and feeding a narrative of accumulation. It already has more than 15K holders on its BSC version and an open interest of $1.6B, just below its peak of $1.86B. With projections of up to $2.50, XPL remains directly tied to Plasma’s performance and the appeal of a network aiming to compete for dominance in the stablecoin market

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Filed under: News - @ September 29, 2025 2:28 pm