Send USDT With no Fees: Plasma Blockchain Explained

By Vuk Martin

Stablecoins have (somewhat) quietly become the backbone of the crypto economy. Among them, Tether’s USDT is still the biggest by far. In 2025, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino shared a surprising stat: 

USDT transactions accounted for roughly 40% of all blockchain transaction fees across nine major chains. 

That was a surprise, because “stablecoin” was meant to describe price stability, not a massive revenue engine for blockchains.

Yet the reality is clear: if you want to move dollars on-chain, you’ll often pay more than you expect in gas fees. If you’re a whale moving millions, those fees barely register. But if you’re sending $10 to a friend or paying for coffee? That cost is enough to push you back to PayPal or a bank transfer.

And when you put “free” next to “cheap,” free almost always wins.

That’s the bet behind Plasma blockchain, an upcoming chain that’s promising the ability to send Tether with no fees on basic USDT transfers. In this article, I’ll break down what Plasma crypto is, how it delivers feeless payments, and why it could be a serious disruptor in the stablecoin space.

Stablecoin fees: the bottleneck nobody likes to talk about

Stablecoins exploded in popularity because they combine crypto’s speed with fiat’s stability. But the fee problem has become a deal-breaker for some.

• On Ethereum, sending USDT, or USDC, or any coin really, during busy times can be pricier than an international bank wire.
   
• Tron built its name on low fees, largely thanks to USDT TRC-20 on Tron, but now generates much of its revenue from hosting $81B worth of USDT and processing roughly 60% of all stablecoin transfers. Even Tron is seeing USDT transfer costs pass $7 in mid-2025.

Businesses aren’t thrilled either. Payroll, cross-border remittances, and supplier payments need predictable, low-cost rails. Sudden gas spikes break that promise. 

If stablecoins want to compete with Visa or SWIFT, fees must head toward zero.

The search for cheaper rails

The industry has been experimenting. Layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism reduce costs by batching transactions, but even they can’t always beat the per-transaction prices of some of the cheapest cryptos to transfer on the market today.

But the more radical approach is building blockchains dedicated to stablecoins. In June 2025, Tether’s sister company Bitfinex introduced two of them: Plasma and Stable.

• Stable: Uses USDT as its native gas token, built for institutions and enterprise payments.
• Plasma: Anchored to Bitcoin, EVM-compatible, and designed to give everyday users zero-fee USDT transfers.

This article focuses on Plasma.

What is Plasma crypto? Bitcoin security meets Ethereum flexibility

Plasma is a Bitcoin sidechain purpose-built for stablecoins. 

It anchors its state to the Bitcoin blockchain, piggybacking on Bitcoin’s proven security. But for smart contracts, Plasma uses Reth, a high-performance Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) execution engine.

That hybrid approach means:

• Developers can deploy Ethereum dApps on Plasma with little or no modification.
• The network periodically writes snapshots of its state to Bitcoin for final settlement.
• Users get both the trust of Bitcoin and the programmability of Ethereum.

And this isn’t a scrappy testnet. It’s heavily funded. 

Plasma raised $373M in an oversubscribed token sale and secured $1B in stablecoin deposits before launch. Investors include Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Framework Ventures, and Bitfinex itself.

With Bitfinex on board, Tether liquidity could move to Plasma from day one. It would give it immediate utility.

No XPL required

Plasma’s native token, XPL, is used for staking and validator rewards. But you don’t have to touch it to use the network.

You can pay fees in USDT or BTC. And for simple USDT transfers? The network plans to make them completely free. Behind the scenes, Plasma auto-swaps whatever token you pay with into XPL at market rates.

This is pretty clever. It solves one big crypto problem: needing a specific gas token just to send another asset.

How the paymaster makes USDT transfers free

The really big deal is Plasma’s paymaster system. Think of it as a network-funded account that pays your gas for you.

Here’s how it works:

1. You send USDT using the official token contract
2. If you’re a verified user, the paymaster checks your eligibility
3. It covers the gas cost using its XPL reserves

You send $50, your recipient gets $50. No deductions or gas tokens.

Keeping it fair: anti-spam and verification

Free access always invites abuse. Without safeguards, bots could spam free transactions until the network grinds to a halt. Plasma tackles this with:

• Lightweight identity verification: Options like zkEmail or zkPhone proofs, Cloudflare Turnstile, or captchas. These prove you’re a real person without storing personal data on-chain.
• Rate limits: For example, capping free transactions per wallet per day (e.g., five in 24 hours).

Plasma also plans a reserved blockspace system for free transfers, so they won’t compete with paid transactions. 

Two lanes: free and express

Plasma runs a two-tier transaction model:

• Free lane: Simple stablecoin transfers at zero cost. Slower confirmations.
• Express lane: Instant confirmations and smart-contract calls for a fee.

It’s like social media posts. Organic reach is free but takes time, while paid ads guarantee placement. Plasma’s free lane is organic reach, express lane is paid promotion.

Casual users can move money freely while giving businesses and traders a way to pay for priority.

More than just free USDT transfers

Plasma’s main draw is zero-fee USDT transfers, but the network offers a lot more. The goal is to be cheaper, sure, but it’s also to be the most attractive place to park and move stablecoins.

Here’s what else is on the table:

1. Confidential transactions: Plasma blockchain plans to offer shielded transfers, hiding the sender, receiver, and amount. This keeps payments private while still allowing selective disclosures to regulators if needed.
    
2. Bitcoin-anchored security: Every so often, Plasma writes a snapshot of its state onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Rewriting Plasma’s history would mean rewriting Bitcoin’s, which is practically impossible. BTC holders can also stake through a secure bridge using Taproot and threshold signatures, with withdrawals handled in a trust-minimized way.
    
3. EVM compatibility: Because it uses Reth, Plasma can run Ethereum smart contracts without major changes. That opens the door for DeFi protocols, stablecoin liquidity pools, and dApps to expand to Plasma while tapping into its free stablecoin transfer rails.
    
4. Compliance-friendly privacy: Alongside shielded transactions, Plasma is working on tools that let users hide transaction details but still prove legitimacy when necessary. It’s a balance between user privacy and regulation.

Together, these features make Plasma different from general-purpose chains, and even from Stable, Tether’s other project. While Stable is USDT-only and geared toward enterprises, Plasma is built to be a universal stablecoin hub.

Why Tron and Ethereum should pay attention

Plasma’s timing is…interesting. 

• Tron is still the go-to network for USDT transfers, and in mid-2025 the TRC-20 USDT supply surpassed Ethereum’s. but its fees have been going up.
• Ethereum is secure and battle-tested, but its congestion and high gas prices make it impractical for microtransactions.

Plasma’s pitch is simple: Tether no fees for simple transfers, plus the flexibility to pay any remaining gas in USDT or BTC. If it works as advertised, it could start pulling transaction volume from both Tron and Ethereum.

Some analysts already see the risk. 

DL News reports that Tron’s revenue dominance is largely connected to USDT activity. If a chunk of that moves to Plasma, Tron’s economics could shift quickly. 

Keyrock researcher Amir Hajian points out that Bitfinex’s support means Plasma could launch with instant liquidity and integrations, the same advantage that helped Tron gain traction early on. On Ethereum, losing even 30% of USDT volume to Plasma could be huge.

The adoption challenge

Of course, none of this is guaranteed. 

• Ethereum’s largest customers, institutional traders and DeFi power users, are used to paying more for the security and ecosystem depth they already trust.
• Tron’s grip on emerging markets comes from years of building low-cost rails and local infrastructure. Tron handles cross-border payments at high speed and low cost, making it a preferred network for remittances and peer-to-peer payments in those regions.

For Plasma to break through, it needs:

• Trust: convincing users that it’s safe and reliable from day one
• Liquidity: making sure enough assets and trading pairs are available at launch
• Performance: delivering on the free transfer promise without slowdowns or frustrating limits

There’s also friction in the free lane. Users will have to verify their identity in some way, and the number of free transactions per day will be capped. Not everyone will jump through those hoops.

Plasma documentation indicates that zero-fee USDT transfers will be introduced after the mainnet beta launch. The paymaster system that enables these fee-free transfers is part of a phased rollout following the initial beta deployment.

The marketing view: frictionless wins

From a product and marketing perspective, Plasma’s proposition is powerful. Removing friction almost always drives adoption. Just look at how free shipping changed online shopping or how free streaming tiers pulled millions into platforms like Spotify.

By making basic USDT transfers completely free, Plasma tackles the biggest mental barrier for potential users: 

Why should I pay to send digital dollars when PayPal lets me do it for free?

On top of that, Plasma has a ready-made network effect: Tether’s huge user base and Bitfinex’s exchange infrastructure could funnel liquidity to it quickly. It’s very similar to how Binance’s influence helped Tron early on.

But marketing will need to focus on education. Most crypto users are comfortable with general-purpose blockchains. Getting them to try a specialized stablecoin network will require clear messaging about the benefits, security model, and ease of use. 

The bottom line: great promise, but with caveats

So, what is Plasma crypto in one line? A Bitcoin-anchored, EVM-compatible blockchain that wants to make moving stablecoins (especially USDT) as simple and free as possible.

It’s got:

• EVM compatibility
• Custom gas token payments
• Confidential transactions
• Two-lane fee mode 

Backing from Tether and Bitfinex means it could start strong with liquidity and integrations.

If it delivers, Plasma could pressure Tron, eat into Ethereum’s retail USDT volume, and push the industry toward making stablecoin transfers truly free.

But the obstacles are real:

• The network isn’t live yet.
• Free transfers will have verification and rate limits.
• Competing chains have years of momentum and user trust.
• Tether is also backing Stable, which could split focus and resources.

The most likely outcome I see happening? A multi-chain future where Plasma has its role alongside other blockchains, and it specializes in retail-friendly, low-friction stablecoin transfers.

If it works, “USDT with no fees” might become as normal as “free shipping,” and stablecoins could finally live up to their promise as the internet’s native cash.

Gotta wait and see though.

Source:: Send USDT With no Fees: Plasma Blockchain Explained