4 days, $6 billion, Plasma detonates DeFi money grab war

# Written by: BitpushNews  

Plasma, the stablecoin public chain backed by Bitfinex and Tether, is sweeping the entire DeFi market at an astonishing pace.  

Data from DefiLlama shows that since its mainnet launch on September 25, Plasma’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has reached nearly $6 billion, with an average daily growth of approximately $1.5 billion over four days. In just a few days, it has jumped to become the sixth-largest stablecoin blockchain, second only to TRON.  

## A "Stablecoin Public Chain" Co-Built by Bitfinex and Tether  

Plasma is a new "stablecoin-driven public chain" led by the Bitfinex team and supported by the Tether (USDT) ecosystem. Its goal is to build a DeFi network with stablecoins as core assets, allowing users to earn substantial returns in a low-volatility environment.  

Unlike Ethereum or Solana, which pursue high-performance versatility, Plasma is more positioned as a "financial operating system," focusing primarily on stablecoin deposit/loan services, yield generation, and cross-protocol liquidity management.  

Its core design concepts include:  

- **Stablecoin-native asset layer**: Natively supports stablecoins such as USDT and PlasmaUSD (pUSD);  

- **Yield aggregation mechanism**: Automatically allocates user deposits to DeFi protocols like Aave and Veda to integrate high returns;  

- **Incentive token XPL**: Serves as the core for ecosystem governance and yield distribution, driving liquidity growth across the entire network.  

According to insiders, part of Plasma’s development team comes from Bitfinex and Tether internally, and its technology stack is deeply linked to Bitfinex’s proprietary Layer 2 network.  

The industry generally regards Plasma as Tether’s strategic layout to formally enter the DeFi sector.  

On its launch day alone (September 25), Plasma’s TVL reached $2.32 billion, and maintained a daily growth of over $1 billion in the following three days. As of September 29, Plasma’s TVL ($5.544 billion) has approached that of Tron ($6.11 billion), surpassing established public chains such as Base, Optimism, and Avalanche, and emerging as a new-generation DeFi capital hub.  

## Aave Becomes the Biggest Winner: Plasma Contributes Nearly Half of Its Non-ETH Locked Value  

Plasma’s flagship product, the "Savings Vault," attracted $2.7 billion in deposits within 24 hours of its launch. Backed jointly by Aave and Veda, this vault allows users to automatically earn yields from three parties (Plasma, Aave, and Veda) after depositing USDT.  

As one of the first cooperative protocols in the Plasma ecosystem, DeFi lending giant Aave is the biggest beneficiary of this surge.  

Data from Blockworks shows that currently, Aave’s locked value on the Plasma network reaches $4.54 billion, accounting for 46.5% of all its deployments outside Ethereum.  

In other words, the amount of Aave funds on the Plasma chain alone is equivalent to the total of Arbitrum, Base, Linea, and Avalanche.  

Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, also posted on the X platform:  

“Plasma is a prime example of how Aave works as a flywheel for liquidity.”  

In the future, Plasma will also launch the "Basis-Trade Vault," which enables users to earn additional returns from funding rates through risk-free perpetual contract arbitrage (delta-neutral strategy).  

## Aggressive XPL Incentive Mechanism: High Yields Attract Massive Stablecoin Inflows  

Plasma’s rapid growth is inseparable from its highly aggressive incentive mechanism.  

Currently, the main yield channels in the ecosystem include:  

- PlasmaUSD Savings Vault: Approximately 19.7% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)  

- Aave USDT0 Lending Pool: Approximately 6.3% APY  

- Fluid fUSDT0 Vault: Approximately 12% APY  

- Small and Medium Position Rewards: Some offer annualized returns exceeding 20%  

It is estimated that Plasma’s current daily incentive distribution scale is approximately $2.8 million, with funds mainly coming from the initial token distribution and cooperative protocol incentive pools.  

This "flywheel mechanism"—*high yields → stablecoin inflows → Aave amplifies returns further → continuous reward distribution*—has led to exponential capital inflows.  

However, industry insiders also point out that the sustainability of continuous high subsidies will be a key test for Plasma to consolidate its ecosystem.  

## Stablecoin Ecosystem Resonance  

Plasma’s rise has not only driven the growth of DeFi but also injected new momentum into USDT, the "king of stablecoins."  

To date, USDT’s circulation has reached $183 billion, with a market share of 69%—a record high.  

Tether also plans to further expand the dominant position of stablecoins in on-chain finance through Plasma and two upcoming stablecoin-dedicated chains: Stable and Tempo.  

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