That’s the part most people miss about Plasma (XPL) right now.
Active addresses are down from the early surge. On the surface, that reads like decline. But TVL hasn’t collapsed alongside it. Liquidity stayed relatively anchored. When usage drops but capital remains, it usually means the incentive crowd rotated out while core participants stayed.
Early chains often look strongest at peak farming season. Airdrops inflate wallets. Transactions spike. Charts look alive. Then emissions fade and reality sets in. What’s left is the baseline.
For a payments-focused chain built around stablecoin flow and gasless transfers, fewer wallets doesn’t automatically mean weaker fundamentals. It can mean consolidation. Fewer empty transactions. More meaningful settlement.
This isn’t a hype phase. It’s a compression phase.
If infrastructure stays tight and real payment volume grows quietly underneath, these are the periods that tend to reprice later. The noise leaves first. The structure shows up after.
