jakiro
Source: TokenInsight, compiled by Shaw bitchain vision
summary
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The explosion of stablecoin applications has promoted enterprises to build their own exclusive Layer-1 blockchains to get rid of their dependence on Ethereum and Tron.
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Arc, Stable, Plasma, and Tempo respectively develop differentiated layouts around enterprise payments, USDT ecosystem, Bitcoin sidechain innovation and global payment scenarios.
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These new chains may gradually divert the stablecoin trading share of Ethereum and Tron, reshape the future stablecoin settlement map.
introduction
Stablecoins have become the lifeblood of cryptocurrency transactions and payments.With the surge in stablecoin usage, a new trend is emerging: major companies are launching the Layer-1 blockchain built specifically for stablecoin transactions.
Companies such as Circle, Stripe (with Paradigm) and Tether are no longer relying solely on existing networks such as Ethereum, Tron or Solana, but are developing custom blockchains optimized for stablecoins.The four new networks leading this trend are: Arc launched by Circle, Tempo, Plasma and Stable jointly created by Stripe and Paradigm.
In this article, we will explore these new Layer-1 protocols, their unique features and application scenarios one by one.We will also explore the motivations that drive this shift—from regulatory integration and cost control to infrastructure independence and fee revenue—and analyze how these developments will affect existing blockchains such as Ethereum and Tron.
Arc: Circle optimized blockchain for stablecoins
Arc is a new Layer-1 blockchain developed by Circle (USDC stablecoin issuer), specially created for stablecoin finance.Circle’s vision is that Arc will become an enterprise-level network for stablecoin payments, forex (FX) and capital market applications.Unlike general blockchain, Arc is designed to focus on meeting the needs of stablecoin users and enterprises.
Arc has launched several features tailored to stablecoin use cases:
USDC as native handling fee: Arc uses USDC to pay for handling fees, which means that transaction fees will be paid in stablecoins instead of cryptocurrencies with high volatility.This makes the fees cheap, predictable and denominated in US dollars, addressing the common complaint of the company’s “cannot hold crypto assets with high volatility to pay for handling fees.”
High performance and instant endurance: Arc is designed for speed.It promises a definite sub-second settlement finality—a transaction that comes into effect almost immediately and is irreversible once confirmed.This instant finality (implemented by a custom consensus engine called Malachite) is crucial for payments and financial transactions that require rapid and deterministicity.
Built-in forex engine: What’s unique about Arc is that it will integrate a forex engine at the protocol layer.This is an institutional-level request for quotes (RFQ) system for on-chain price discovery and 24/7 settlement of transactions between different stablecoins or currencies.In short, Arc can natively support the rapid and transparent conversion of digital dollars to digital euros, which is very useful for global payments and forex transactions on blockchain.
Selective privacy controls: Arc is well aware of the privacy and compliance needs of enterprises, so it provides optional transaction protection features.Users and businesses can choose to hide sensitive information in their transactions or balances while still complying with relevant regulations.
All-round Circle ecosystem integration: Arc is built by Circle and will be integrated natively with Circle’s existing products and services.This includes support for a variety of stablecoins issued by Circle (USDC, euro stablecoin EURC, and even tokenized cash deposits like USYC), as well as Circle’s payment API, wallets, and cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) for cross-blockchain asset transfer.Developers can use familiar Ethereum tools (Arc is compatible with EVM, which means it supports Ethereum smart contracts) to easily develop on Arc or connect assets to Ethereum.
Arc’s feature set is for enterprise and institutional users to use stablecoins.For example, large fintech companies, payment service providers, banks or businesses want to use stablecoins to conduct global payments, capital operations, foreign exchange transactions, or tokenization of financial assets.Circle explicitly mentions various use cases from payments and stable currency forex to capital markets such as tokenized securities, Treasury bonds and commodities.
By launching Arc, Circle is seeking a “full stack, autonomous” stablecoin trading solution.The advantage is vertical integration: Circle can control and optimize the entire architecture—from stablecoin issuance to the underlying blockchain that processes transactions.
Stable: Tether’s dedicated USDT network
Stable is a brand new Layer-1 blockchain built specifically around Tether’s USDT stablecoin.It is essentially a blockchain customized for the USDT ecosystem, designed to be the “backbone of stablecoin payments” and to boost USDT’s global adoption.The Stable Network was incubated by Bitfinex and officially debuted in mid-2025, announcing the completion of a $28 million seed round led by Bitfinex and venture capital firms to kick off its development.
Stable’s approach is to use USDT itself as the core of the blockchain:
USDT-driven blockchain: On stablecoins, USDT will be used as the native currency for paying transaction fees.Similar to Arc’s USDC model, this eliminates the need to pay transaction fees with separate fee tokens—users can trade with just USDT.In addition, it ensures predictability of transaction costs (in USD).
Fast and seamless transactions: Stable aims to achieve high-speed and instant finality, with the goal of achieving sub-second block time and final settlement.
Corporate-friendly features: Stable’s roadmap hints at features for large and institutional users.It will introduce “USDT transfer aggregator and enterprise block space guarantee”.Given Tether’s growing cooperation with regulators, we can also expect its compliance capabilities: Since Stable was built after the GENIUS Act, it will likely meet regulatory requirements for banks and institutions to use with peace of mind.
Deep integration with the Tether/Bitfinex ecosystem: Stable is incubated by Bitfinex and is consulted by Tether’s CTO (current CEO) Paolo Ardoino.
The main application scenario of Stable is to use USDT for large-scale payments and settlements.Its targets range from daily retail transactions (such as paying for coffee with USDT) to large enterprise transfers.The team’s statement emphasizes the need to replace or improve the “global payment infrastructure” because existing infrastructure fails to provide fast and reliable digital payment services.
Institutional settlement is also crucial – banks can complete the transfer of interbank stablecoins through Stable under regulatory supervision under the clear framework of the US GENIUS Act.In fact, Tether has expressed his intention to launch a USDT version that complies with U.S. regulations; Stable is expected to be the network that facilitates this within a clear regulatory framework.
Plasma: Stablecoin on Bitcoin Side Chain
Plasma is a brand new Layer-1 blockchain (strictly speaking, it is a sidechain) focusing on stablecoin trading.But what makes it unique is that it is built as an EVM-compatible Bitcoin sidechain.This means Plasma has its own consensus and tokens, but is anchored on Bitcoin (for security or connectivity reasons) while also running smart contracts similar to Ethereum.Plasma has attracted much attention for its explosive launch—in July 2025, it launched a public offering of its native token XPL, attracting $373 million in subscriptions, exceeding the target seven times.
Plasma’s design philosophy is to combine the advantages of the Bitcoin network with the flexibility of Ethereum, focusing all on stablecoins:
EVM-compatible Bitcoin sidechain: Plasma is built as a sidechain for Bitcoin, meaning it can be anchored or connected to Bitcoin and may benefit from Bitcoin’s powerful security model.At the same time, it is EVM compatible, so it can run smart contracts and DeFi applications like the Ethereum chain.
Zero handling fee stablecoin transfer: A highlight of Plasma is that it will provide a zero-fee stablecoin transfer service, starting with Tether’s USDT.In other words, transferring USDT on Plasma does not require a common handling fee.This is of great significance: the handling fee is a friction point, and even on low-cost blockchains like Tron, a large amount of stablecoin transfers will incur some costs.
Huge initial liquidity and support: When Plasma goes online, it is expected to lock $1 billion worth of stablecoins on its network, making it the fastest blockchain ever to reach the $1 billion mark.This huge liquidity is likely to come from partnerships (for example, given Plasma’s focus on USDT, Tether may inject USDT liquidity into its network).In addition, Plasma has also received support from heavyweight investors such as Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Framework Ventures and Bitfinex (a cryptocurrency exchange closely related to Tether).Bitfinex’s involvement and focus on USDT strongly suggest that Plasma is part of the Tether ecosystem strategy, even if it is a standalone project.
Plasma’s main goal is to achieve large-scale transfers and settlement of stablecoins, especially using USDT.Currently, Tron and Ethereum process most USDT transfers.Plasma obviously aims at this market: by offering free and fast USDT transfers on a Bitcoin-secured network, it hopes to attract exchanges, traders and payment users from other blockchains.
Tempo: Payment-first blockchain for Stripe and Paradigm
Tempo is the upcoming Layer-1 blockchain developed by fintech giant Stripe in partnership with cryptocurrency venture capital firm Paradigm.In mid-2025, Stripe’s secret blockchain project was exposed due to the exposure of related reports and recruitment information.Tempo is described as a “high-performance, payment-focused” blockchain network and will be compatible with Ethereum’s Solidity smart contract.
While the detailed specifications of Tempo are still in a confidential state (Stripe hasn’t officially launched Tempo, according to the latest news), some clear intentions have surfaced:
Full-stack payment control: Tempo’s core concept is to give Stripe full control of the end-to-end payment process.Currently, Stripe processes digital payments, but when using cryptocurrencies, it needs to rely on banking networks and third-party blockchains for settlement.By having a blockchain layer, Stripe can optimize everything, including transaction throughput, finality and fees, especially in terms of payments.
Optimize for stablecoins and integrations: Given Stripe’s business, Tempo may focus on stablecoin trading (digital dollars transferred between merchants, consumers and banks).Stripe has invested in crypto (such as acquiring a stablecoin startup and a crypto wallet developer), and adding blockchain is the “last puzzle” to integrate stablecoins into its platform.
There may be no new tokens: It is still uncertain whether Tempo will have its own native token.Stripe’s project is currently in a secret state and has not yet announced the token model.Stripe may use existing stablecoins as handling fees (similar to Arc and Stable), and even introduce new tokens for staking or governance.However, given Stripe’s mainstream business focus, they may initially avoid using more volatile tokens and stick to stablecoins to pay for handling fees.
Tempo’s application scenarios are closely related to global payments and commerce.Stripe has a huge network of merchants; imagine millions of online merchants can seamlessly trade with stablecoins through Stripe’s blockchain.Cross-border payments are a special pain point that stablecoins can solve – for example, Tempo can allow merchants in one country to receive payments from customers in another country in the form of stablecoins, bypassing slow and expensive bank wire transfers or credit card networks.It also targets B2B payments and cash flows (enterprises remittances to overseas, payment providers, etc.), where stablecoins are faster/cheaper than traditional systems such as SWIFT.Stripe can even use Tempo to provide faster and cheaper settlement methods, replacing or supplementing traditional payment channels (such as new systems such as ACH, SWIFT, or FedNow).
Impact on Ethereum and Tron
The rise of these dedicated stablecoins Layer-1 blockchains has brought significant problems for existing networks that currently handle large amounts of stablecoin traffic – especially Ethereum (home to many other stablecoins in USDC and DeFi) and Tron (which currently undertakes a large portion of USDT transactions due to low fees).
In the near term, Ethereum and Tron are unlikely to lose dominance overnight.They have a large existing user base, integration with exchanges and wallets, and deep liquidity in the DeFi and CeFi sectors.New blockchains like Arc or Stable take time to grow.
Looking to the future, these new Layer-1 blockchains may significantly change the market share of stablecoin settlement.If Arc, Stable, Tempo and Plasma achieve their goals, more and more stablecoin transactions, especially bulk and enterprise transactions, may migrate from Ethereum and Tron to these dedicated chains.
For example, if Tether’s Stable chain and Plasma provide higher efficiency or incentive mechanisms,Tron’s dominance in USDT may be weakened.If the Stable chain not only provides low fees, it also receives direct support from Tether and may be better integrated with fiat currency deposit and exit channels, the exchange may favor it for USDT transfers.
However,Ethereum can retain its role as a composability settlement layer: The rich DeFi ecosystem on Ethereum may still attract stablecoins from Arc or Stable to return to Ethereum-based smart contracts.As a result, Ethereum may become the backbone of more complex multi-asset interactions, while conventional peer-to-peer stablecoin payments are conducted on the new blockchain.
