Plasma, a cryptocurrency startup focused on developing a Bitcoin-based blockchain tailored for stablecoins, has successfully raised $20 million in funding to advance its developmental stages. This financial boost, announced by the company on Thursday, is led by Framework Ventures and will facilitate the rollout of Plasma’s testnet and mainnet.
The funds will also support the firm's expansion into areas such as remittances, payments, and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
This investment follows an earlier $4 million seed round with key supporters including Bitfinex, Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, and renowned crypto traders Cobie and Zaheer Ebtikar, known as Split Capital. As stablecoins dominate the cryptocurrency sector with a supply exceeding $220 billion, they are increasingly becoming integral for everyday financial transactions and savings.
Despite Bitcoin being the most established blockchain, much of the stablecoin activity currently takes place on newer networks like Ethereum, Tron, and Solana.
Plasma aspires to become a sidechain of the Bitcoin blockchain while ensuring full compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), a critical component of decentralized finance. The team intends to overcome existing challenges that stablecoins face on traditional blockchains, such as high transaction fees and limited scalability, by leveraging Bitcoin’s robust security framework to offer zero-fee USDT transactions.
Paul Faecks, Plasma's founder and CEO, noted, “Stablecoins have dominated blockchain adoption yet remain undervalued on existing chains. By utilizing Bitcoin’s foundation, we are offering zero-fee USDT transfers and a purpose-built ecosystem for stablecoins with substantial liquidity. Plasma is positioned to be the most secure, scalable, and efficient blockchain available for stablecoins.”
Peter Thiel is a German-born American billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, now Meta. He co-founded data analytics firm Palantir Technologies and serves as a partner at Founders Fund, a venture capital firm known for early investments in SpaceX and Airbnb.
Thiel, who graduated from Stanford Law School, has become a prominent figure in technology and politics, known for his libertarian views and his support of conservative causes, including Donald Trump's 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns.
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