Plasma’s Shine Fades as TVL, Users, and Token Value Collapse

Plasma entered 2025 as the chain that promised everything. Perfect execution. Heavy backers. The cleanest infra rollout the industry had seen in years.

But 10 months later, that story is cracking.

And the data over the past 30 days paints a brutal picture.

The network has lost 70% of its stablecoin market cap, 33% of its TVL, and most of its users. Its native token, XPL, is down 87% from its all-time high.

For a chain that launched as the “next big base layer,” the unwinding feels fast, deep, and structural.

A Month of Sharp Declines

Plasma’s stablecoin ecosystem was once its strength. High liquidity. Clean rails. Smooth flow.

Not anymore.

Stablecoin market cap is down 70% in 30 days, a drawdown so sharp industry trackers flagged it as one of the deepest contractions in any major L1/L2 this year. TVL now sits at $7B, roughly half of its ATH, after a 33% drop that accelerated week by week.

The biggest red flag?

• None of this came from technical failures.
• It came from users leaving.
• Daily active addresses are down 90%.
• Transactions? Down 75%.
• Protocol flows show “unwinding, not growth,” as one analyst put it.
• The hype era is over.

What’s left is the part most chains struggle with, organic demand.

XPL’s Freefall Shows the Market’s Verdict

Plasma’s token, XPL, tells the rest of the story.

Now sitting at a $397M market cap, XPL is down 87% from its $1.68 ATH, trading around $0.22 despite maintaining deep liquidity on major exchanges.

The recent 88.9M token unlock only added fuel to the sell-pressure. Bigger cliffs are scheduled throughout 2025 and into mid-2026, and investors know it. The market is pricing in dilution well ahead of time.

Even worse, most of the remaining demand is speculative, short-term traders rotating in and out, not long-term participants building inside the ecosystem.

A token without a narrative.

A chain without sticky users.

That’s the dynamic playing out right now.

The App Layer Problem: Too Narrow, Too Thin

Plasma’s execution layer works flawlessly.

Its infrastructure is world-class.

Its backers are elite.

But ecosystems don’t survive on engineering alone.

Right now, three protocols, Aave, Pendle, and Fluid, account for 90% of the chain’s TVL. All three are essentially running the same trade: yield farming and carry optimization in different wrappers.

It’s not an ecosystem.

It’s a loop.

DEX volumes have evaporated.

RWA activity is close to zero.

New project launches have slowed to a crawl.

The organic app layer simply did not form. And without one, Plasma looks less like a vibrant chain and more like a temporary home for mercenary liquidity.

• The farmers came.
• Harvested everything.
• And left.

The One System Still Working: Stablecoin Infra

In fairness, not everything is breaking.

Plasma’s stablecoin infrastructure, one of the most advanced in the industry, continues to run flawlessly. USDT flows remain healthy. Market share hasn’t collapsed. Liquidity hasn’t dried up.

But even that stat comes with an asterisk.

Stablecoin liquidity without active applications is just idle capital waiting to leave. Tether has no reason to pull out, but users aren’t sticking around for 0% yield and low activity.

It’s stability without movement.

Alive, but not beating.

Plasma One: The Lone Bright Spot

One product is still showing real traction: Plasma One, the neobank built on top of the chain.

It offers:

•  Zero-fee USDT payments
•  A 4% cashback debit card
•  10%+ APY on stablecoin savings

Unlike the rest of the chain, Plasma One is actually gaining users, consistently pulling 20k–30k monthly active users across Latin America and Southeast Asia.

It’s not enough to support a $7B ecosystem.

But it’s proof that consumer products move faster than DeFi loops when markets tighten.

If Plasma finds its second wind, it will likely start here.

The Hard Lesson for 2025: Execution ≠ Demand

Plasma’s rise and stumble is becoming the case study of the year.

The chain did everything right on paper:

•  flawless infra launch
•  major backers
•  every big CEX listing
•  clean developer tooling
•  strong bridge integrations

Yet it couldn’t convert incentives into sustainable user demand.

That’s the lesson every L1/L2 team is now taking seriously:

• Infrastructure wins respect.
• Applications win survival.

The market is quick, ruthless, and unforgiving when a chain stalls. Plasma is discovering that in real time.

Where Plasma Goes From Here

For Plasma to regain momentum, several things must happen:

1. XPL needs a real narrative, something beyond incentives.

2. The chain needs new applications beyond the Aave–Pendle–Fluid carry loop.

3. User retention must stop relying on liquidity mining.

4. Developers need reasons to build, not just reasons to farm.

The fundamentals are strong, but fundamentals alone have never carried an ecosystem.

Right now, Plasma sits at a crossroads, still powerful, still respected, but losing the very thing a chain needs most: real demand.

If it can rebuild its app layer, it still has a shot.

If not, the last 30 days may be remembered as the point where the chain lost its edge.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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