At two in the morning, my friend A Jie, who runs a boutique guesthouse in Bangkok, suddenly sent a video. The background was his yard filled with bamboo, and he looked tired, but there was a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"I just finished calculating the accounts, it's frustrating." He took a sip of tea, "The payment from the European booking platform last month, as usual, was delayed for almost three weeks. This week I need to pay the local staff, and I also need to settle the linen costs with the suppliers, so cash flow tightened up suddenly. Converting currency through the bank urgently? The handling fees are painful."
I was just about to offer some comfort when he changed the subject: "But today, I used a new method. A long-term German digital tourist directly transferred some USDT for the accommodation fee through a chain called Plasma. It arrived almost instantly on my end, and I converted it to Thai baht myself; it hit my local bank account in a few minutes. The handling fee… is almost negligible."
He showed me a screenshot; the confirmation time for that transfer was less than 10 seconds, with fees under 0.1 dollars. Ajie isn't a geek, just an ordinary person wanting to do business well. His eyes lit up: "This thing seems to really solve my practical problems."
"Money should flow, not get stuck on the chain"
This is the network used by Ajie - Plasma, the most touching slogan. It's not some universal blockchain; its thought process is very simple: to do one thing well, allowing stablecoins (especially USDT) to flow globally as conveniently and cheaply as sending WeChat red envelopes.
I studied it carefully, and its design philosophy is very 'friendly to physical businesses'. It's an independent blockchain (Layer 1), but compatible with Ethereum's smart contracts (EVM), which means many mature DeFi applications can seamlessly migrate over. It's like suddenly installing a super strong 'payment-specific chip' in your familiar Android system.
How does it help people like Ajie?
Second-level settlement, rejecting anxiety: traditional cross-border remittances are like green-skinned trains, with many transfer stations and long wait times. The Plasma network claims to achieve 1000+ TPS (transactions per second), compressing USDT transfers to the time it takes to take a sip of water. For small and medium businesses, cash flow efficiency is a lifeline.
Costs are almost zero: compared to traditional wire transfer fees of dozens or hundreds of dollars, or gas fees of several dollars on the Ethereum mainnet, transfer costs on Plasma are at the level of a few cents. This makes small, high-frequency payments (like paying for articles, settling homestay costs, buying digital goods) feasible.
"Native dollar" experience: For many people in various countries, holding and using local currency may face inflation risks. Stablecoins like USDT provide a 'digital dollar' option. Plasma makes it usable, equating to providing ordinary people with a convenient dollar payment channel.
Not just transfers: the ecosystem is growing.
If it’s just about fast transfers, that’s not enough. I looked at its actions since 2026 and found that it is building an ecosystem of 'payment+'.
With payment gateways like Confirmo integrated, online stores can directly receive USDT.
With DeFi protocols like Fluid and Aave, the incoming funds need not be idle and can be safely earned some returns.
Even exploring institutional-level credit in cooperation with Maple Finance, and combining with new banking concepts like YuzuMoney for card consumption.
These actions all indicate one point: it wants your on-chain money to not only 'arrive instantly' but also be 'easy to spend' and 'smartly earn a little money'.
My thoughts
The industry is always looking for 'killer applications'. Perhaps, a killer application isn't necessarily the coolest NFT or the most complex financial derivatives, but is something like what Ajie encountered - truly optimizing the cash flow for a business in some corner of the Earth. Payment, the oldest and most fundamental need, once truly innovated by blockchain technology, brings astonishing energy.
Plasma chose a heavy but realistic path: focusing on stablecoin payments, first making money flow efficiently, and then building an ecosystem around that flow. It faces significant challenges, such as how to attract more genuine business users, not just arbitrage funds. But seeing projects seriously addressing the issues of 'Ajies' is itself quite exciting.
Ajie finally said he plans to persuade more of his freelance clients to use this payment method. "It feels like we skipped a huge number of steps and directly shook hands."
Perhaps the future lies in these more direct and efficient 'handshakes'.
