$XPL has been hovering around 0.14 with little change, showing a dull trend. However, behind this is the market digesting last year's brutal decline—from 1.67 straight down to 0.18, a nearly 90% drop—anyone who saw it would break out in cold sweat. Not only did those who bought the dip lose money, but even those who dared to enter early are now oscillating at the bottom, making profits hard to come by.

But from another perspective, the Plasma public chain has truly withstood the test. In the fiercely competitive L2 track, it has managed to find its own position, with the core weapon being something others didn't expect—zero-fee USDT transfers. Unlike the flashy features of other chains, it straightforwardly uses USDT as gas fees, making basic transfers almost free. Complex contracts and staking still require XPL, but institutional users hardly feel the presence of the underlying chain. This move really hits the pain point.

Plus, with full EVM compatibility, developers save the trouble of relearning new languages, making project migration costs extremely low. Even better, it uses BTC locking to back security, solving the old problem of slow and expensive cross-chain remittances. Initially, it gained the trust of institutions, with a TVL of $2 billion, strong support from Bitfinex, and a fundraising oversubscription multiple, making it quite prominent for a time.

Although the TVL saw some adjustments in early 2026, the USDT transfer volume actually continued to rise, indicating that the number of actual users hasn't decreased. The $XPL sideways consolidation is essentially a phase of emotional recovery. The core value of Plasma has never wavered; the key now is whether it can continue to attract institutional and user participation in the future.