Sep 1, 2025
Other Posts
A completely new type of crypto infrastructure is emerging, built specifically for one asset category: Stablecoins. These infrastructure projects are being built with the sole purpose of optimizing stablecoin transactions and are forming what could be deemed as the “Stablechain” category, with the main goal of turning stablecoins from a crypto-enclosed tool to a mass-adopted payment rail
The timing for the conception of the Stablechain category is not a coincidence. In July the GENIUS Act was signed into law, creating a clear US regulatory framework for payment stablecoin issuers for the first time. By legitimizing stablecoins as part of the formal financial ecosystem, the Act opens the door for trusted issuers and regulated players to bring stablecoins to the masses, potentially positioning them as a rival to legacy payment infrastructure.
However, the GENIUS Act might just be an extra boost and the shift for stablecoins has been underway for a long time. Stablecoin adoption has accelerated to the point where its transaction volumes now even surpass those of traditional payment networks
Looking at the adjusted stablecoin transfer volume, which excludes all MEV and intra-CEX stablecoin activity, we can see how it has grown steadily over the past four years, overtaking Visa for the first time in March 2024. The 30D stablecoin volume peaked at $2.8 trillion in January 2025, showcasing how stablecoins are now becoming one of the largest settlement systems in the world by value transferred.
Source: Artemis
Looking specifically at USDT, Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed on August 5th that USDT transfers now account for around 40% of all blockchain transaction fees across major networks, which highlights USDT’s dominance and intense on-chain usage.
Source: Paolo Ardoino
Considering this broader context, projects in this newly-formed category are sprinting to dominate the sector. Projects like Stable, Plasma, 1Money Network, and Circle’s Arc are designing chains where stablecoins are not just tokens running on top of the network, but are the network’s native asset, gas token, and primary use case. Together, they may be shaping the start of a new era for stablecoins to be a mainstream, widely-accepted type of asset.
However, from another perspective, it’s unclear why these projects are building their own L1s instead of launching on an Ethereum L2 for example. One answer could be that their strategy is giving them full design control, and could potentially make them an entity with more control over their chains’ activity, revenue, and roadmap since this approach also frees them from Ethereum’s roadmap or fee volatility.
The trade-off is likely big. They are losing access to Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem, liquidity, and integrations, which seems to indicate that they are targeting a different audience: everyone outside of DeFi or even Web3. With the GENIUS Act now giving stablecoins a clear legal framework in the US, it’s no surprise issuers are spinning up their own L1s to leverage potential stablecoin growth in the Web2 sector. It might be a smart move for payments adoption, but it also moves a vital part of crypto, stablecoins, closer to a compliance and centralization headache.
Stable
It is a stablecoin-focused L1 to implement zero gas fees and utilize USDT as the native gas token. Bitfinex became one of the first backers and is incubating it, but it’s also backed by Tether’s USDT0 and other notable investors including Hack VC, Mirana Ventures, Bybit, and KuCoin Ventures, among others, who participated in a $28M seed round.
How does Stable work?
Stable consists of a high-throughput L1 with sub-second finality optimized for USDT and featuring gas-free USDT0 transfers, minimal costs regardless of transfer volume, and an intuitive native wallet that simplifies the UX when transferring and managing USDT while also integrating easy debit and credit cards.
Their consensus mechanism is a customized PoS built on CometBFT with plans of decoupling data distribution from consensus and broadcast transactions directly to block proposers to reduce latency.
Stable’s roadmap hinges around on Autobahn (to be reached by Q2 2026), an upgrade inspired by DAG systems which would allow for parallel processing and faster finality by separating data propagation. Autobahn would preserve low-latency finality while enabling parallel proposal processing and improved resilience under high network load. By separating data propagation from final ordering, Autobahn eliminates single-leader bottlenecks, supports higher throughput, and can recover instantly from network “blips” without delays due to backlogs.
Overall, Stable makes a special emphasis on features for institutional adoption like guaranteed blockspace allocation, efficient USDT transfer processing, high throughput with transfer aggregation, comprehensive security measures, and the option for confidential yet compliant transfers.
Plasma
Also backed by Bitfinex and Tether (USDT0), Plasma is a stablecoin-focused L1 that aims to be the hub of stablecoins as a native protocol-level feature rather than being generic tokens on the chain. By implementing stablecoins at the protocol level, apps on Plasma could offer feeless transfers, allow users to pay gas directly with stablecoins, and make payments easily without depending on external payment providers.
Plasma aims to enhance stablecoin performance and usability while maintaining full EVM compatibility for easy dApp deployment, as well as facilitating large stablecoin transfer volumes with low latency through its efficient consensus mechanism.
They have raised over $75M from Bitfinex, USDT0, and VCs such as Framework Ventures, DRW/Cumberland, Bybit, Flow Traders, 6th Man Ventures, IMC, Nomura, Founders Fund, and a $50M sale through Echo.
Plasma is bound to launch their mainnet with a $1B+ stablecoin TVL thanks to successfully closing oversubscribed sales where backers committed to purchasing XPL, their utility token that is also used for transactions and rewards.
How does Plasma work?
Plasma will work with a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in which validators will be able to stake their own tokens, provide core infrastructure services, and receive rewards proportional to their contributions. There will be different types of nodes:
Validator Nodes | they will participate in consensus only once the mainnet is launched
Non-Validator Nodes | they finalize blocks and serve RPC traffic without affecting consensus
One of Plasma’s highlights is that it draws Bitcoin into the ecosystem through their native, Bitcoin bridge that is secured by verifiers and allows BTC holders to move their BTC into their EVM-compatible smart contracts. Although not fully “non-custodial”, the deposited BTC will be kept in a Plasma-controlled deposit address that is controlled with a multi-party computation (MPC), meaning that it’s not only controlled by Plasma, but by several entities which all share the private key while no one holds it fully.
As mentioned above, Plasma’s node structure will have validator nodes running the consensus mechanism when the mainnet is launched. These nodes will implement the Fast-Hotstuff Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) protocol called PlasmaBFT that allows parallel processing of consensus steps and follow a round-robin selection for proposing new blocks. On another hand, non-validator nodes are already operational. Non-validator nodes are read-only participants that are able to access blockchain data without participating in consensus.
Overall, PlasmaBFT’s design might ensure high throughput, predictability, and resilience thanks to pipelining, which will enable proposing new blocks while finalizing previous ones to maximize throughput and reduce latency. Its modular consensus will deliver finality in seconds through a simplified Proof of Stake system that selects validator committees via secure, stake-weighted randomness to cut communication overload. Also, instead of capital slashing, Plasma will apply reward slashing to reduce institutional risk while maintaining validator incentives.
1Money Network
Although based on social media traction, it seems to be lesser-known, 1Money is also building a new L1 purpose-built for stablecoin transactions to eliminate the complexity, unpredictable costs, and technical barriers that hinder further stablecoin mass adoption. 1Money has raised $20M from investors such as Galaxy Ventures, F-Prime (Fidelity Investments subsidiary), Kraken Ventures, and Tribe Capital.
1Money is led by former Binance US CEO Brian Shroder, along with Brett Enclade, who served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Ripple, and Kristen Hecht, who was Chief Compliance Officer at both Binance and Paxos. The company also recently appointed Kenneth A. Blanco, former Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) within the US Department of the Treasury, and Michael Mosier, former Deputy Director and Digital Innovation Officer at FinCEN, to its Board of Directors.
With a team combining industry experience and US regulatory expertise, and a stated focus on building a compliance-first stablecoin payments L1, 1Money’s team could be well-positioned to become a leader in the sector, especially now that the GENIUS Act has been signed into law.
1Money aims to simplify the user experience to the maximum extent possible by allowing users to pay for gas fees directly on the stablecoin being sent, with fixed fees, and a Byzantine Consistent Broadcast protocol that can process transactions simultaneously with equal priority and subsecond finality.
The network’s Testnet went live on August 6th, and already supports the gas fee abstraction with the payment stablecoin, fixed fees, sub-second finality, and a developer tooling portal to support the creation of stablecoin Web3 payments.
How does 1Money work?
1Money utilizes a patent-pending Byzantine Consistent Broadcast protocol, a deterministic Byzantine Fault Tolerant distributed system, to secure its network against exploits and faults. This mechanism enables sub-second transaction finality, processing all transactions simultaneously and with equal priority, regardless of their value to achieve a theoretical value of 250,000 TPS.
The network is permissionless and open. Its operations will be supported by compliant and permissioned validators, which will contribute to the network's enhanced scalability, security, and integrity. These validators will have to undergo a rigorous selection process that incorporates Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) measures.
The idea is for 1Money to support a wide range of fully-reserved stablecoins, but haven’t yet disclosed exactly which stablecoins are currently being supported. 1Money has not released much information about the architecture (like a whitepaper) and their social media activity is still low, but it might be one of the projects to look out for in the stablechain category.
Circle’s ARC
Lastly, Circle revealed Arc, an EVM-compatible L1 for stablecoin payments on August 12th in their Q2 2025 results report. Arc will use USDC for gas, include an FX engine, offer sub-second settlement, and have opt-in privacy. It will integrate with Circle's platform and existing services, and they expect to release a public testnet this fall and could likely be one of the strongest projects in the category given USDC’s importance and transaction volumes.
How does Arc Network work?
Arc will be an EVM-compatible L1 purpose-built for stablecoin finance and tokenization. It will use USDC as the native gas token to remove fee volatility, and supports deterministic sub-second settlement through a high-performance Malachite BFT consensus based on Tendermint, and will offer opt-in privacy to enable selective transparency for regulated financial workflows. Arc is clearly designed for use cases like global payments, programmable FX, and tokenized capital markets, aiming to serve as a compliant, institutional-grade settlement layer.
At launch, Arc will integrate tightly with Circle’s existing infrastructure, including USDC, EURC, USYC (tokenized short-term Treasuries), CCTP for cross-chain transfers, and Gateway for chain-abstracted USDC balances. This could make Arc both a liquidity hub for stablecoins and a distribution layer for deploying them instantly across other chains. Its architecture is permissioned-PoA (Proof of Authority) with a small set of vetted validators, aligning with the GENIUS Act framework and targeting regulated institutions. Their roadmap includes MEV mitigation, privacy upgrades, and eventual migration to a permissioned-PoS validator set for greater decentralization.
Stripe’s Tempo
Stripe is also building a Layer 1 chain called Tempo alongside Paradigm. While this L1 is not specifically categorized by Stripe as a “stablecoin-focused” chain, it will be a high-performance, payments-focused blockchain, which would make it fall into the category anyways. After their acquisition of Bridge and Privy, this move makes sense given the purchased companies were a stablecoins payment platform and a wallet infrastructure company.
How does Tempo work?
While details about its architecture are still vague, Tempo’s design will likely prioritize speed, compliance, and seamless integration into Stripe’s existing merchant network rather than competing in the broader DeFi space, based on the limited information available.
Their L1 is expected to enter the stablecoin-focused chain category although they haven’t explicitly stated it. In May of 2025 Stripe announced “Stablecoin Financial Accounts ”, giving businesses in 101 countries the ability to hold USDC balances, send and receive USD/EUR via traditional rails, and transfer stablecoins across eight blockchains, which already hinted Stripe’s bet on stablecoins
With those 5 projects conforming the category for now, these next projects aren’t building stablecoin-focused L1s, but their products and role within the industry still make them important to the growth of the stablechain category. They are addressing core needs such as institutional settlement infrastructure, compliance, and cross-chain capability, areas that will likely remain relevant in how stablecoin-first L1s scale.
Noble AppLayer
Noble is a platform that works with major stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Ondo to help distribute and issue stablecoins like USDC and USDY throughout the Cosmos network
How does Noble work?
It is designed as an application-specific blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK and leverages Cosmos’ IBC (Inter Blockchain Communication) protocol for cross-chain capabilities.
In April of 2025 they announced the Noble AppLayer, an EVM-compatible rollup that leverages Celestia as a data availability and consensus layer. The AppLayer aims to provide high-throughput and support for stablecoin-native applications, building on Noble's existing L1 infrastructure for stablecoin issuance. They make an emphasis on interoperability and cross-chain capabilities thanks to Hyperlane and Cosmos’ IBC Eureka.
Codex
It is a stablecoin-focused L2 built using Optimism’s OP Stack optimized for stablecoin operations with features such as low latency, high throughput, and a modular architecture. The most important features include stablecoin-native payments, FX, and settlement, and gas abstraction, liquidity, and custody for stablecoin-native applications.
Tether’s USDT0
It is a bridged version of USDT which leverages LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard and maintains a 1:1 peg with USDT (on Ethereum) via a lock-and-mint mechanism with the aim of eliminating fragmented liquidity.
While not really a direct participant in the newly-established stablecoin-focused L1s, it will become an important entity within the category since they are supporting both Stable and Plasma. Initially launched on Kraken’s Ink L2, USDT0 has expanded to networks including Berachain, MegaETH, Optimism, and Sei, with support continuing to grow.
Converge
While not a stablecoin-focused Layer 1 at all, Converge offers capabilities and an architecture that could position it as a relevant solution in the category. Developed by Ethena Labs and Securitize, Converge aims to function as a settlement hub for tokenized financial assets and institutional-grade DeFi applications and allows Ethena to bring its USDe stablecoin ecosystem (~$11B TVL), while Securitize brings tokenized RWAs including those tied to BlackRock.
Converge does not fit into the “stablechain” category, but also helps address the growing institutional demand for regulated yet performant blockchains. It is not “stablecoin-first”, but its design and ecosystem is rooted in stablecoins and tokenized assets which could make it an important player in this new ecosystem.
If the Stablecoin-focused chain category succeeds and gains active users, they won’t necessarily replace USDT, USDC, or any other stablecoin. Actually, they are working towards making them more dominant beyond the Web3 space by providing purpose-built rails that facilitate their adoption.
While none of these projects are primarily designed for launching tokens, they could lower the barrier for integrating stablecoins as a payment method. Their core objective is very clear: to make specific stablecoins, mainly USDT (Circle will likely focus on USDC), into leading assets for mass usage, not to become multi-asset ecosystems. Nevertheless, the real test will be whether they attract enough transaction flow and users to justify their existence beyond being niche payment networks.
From a tokenomics perspective, stablecoin-first ecosystems might just be the missing piece for projects that offer a good service yet don’t require a native token to function. Many projects in early design stages think they need a token because the space has conditioned teams to think that every project needs a token, when in practice, we’ve seen how this misconception adds to an ever-growing list of useless tokens.
Stablecoin-focused L1s could create a new kind of Web3 ecosystem. One where projects with strong fundamentals and mass adoption potential can easily operate entirely on stablecoins for payments and transactions, without the pressure to issue a token and leveraging the ease of use of stablecoins for their users to make payments.
However, diving into what Stable, Plasma, 1Money, and Arc are building, one thing is clear: they see upcoming stablecoin growth happening on layers that they can control and are heavily benefited by. Their products don’t seem to be built with DeFi users in mind, but are compliance-first institutional and real world-grade settlement layers for real applications targeting businesses, enterprises, and cross-border payments.
But this comes at a cost. By building their own L1s, these companies can control performance, fee structures, and features, but they also risk creating siloed ecosystems. Ethereum L2s would have given them instant liquidity, users, and composability in the broader DeFi scene, yet these projects are signaling they’re building for a different future in which stablecoins live in their own compliant ecosystems, integrated with banks, payment processors, and regulators, not just DEXs and lending protocols.
A completely new type of crypto infrastructure is emerging, built specifically for one asset category: Stablecoins. These infrastructure projects are being built with the sole purpose of optimizing stablecoin transactions and are forming what could be deemed as the “Stablechain” category, with the main goal of turning stablecoins from a crypto-enclosed tool to a mass-adopted payment rail
The timing for the conception of the Stablechain category is not a coincidence. In July the GENIUS Act was signed into law, creating a clear US regulatory framework for payment stablecoin issuers for the first time. By legitimizing stablecoins as part of the formal financial ecosystem, the Act opens the door for trusted issuers and regulated players to bring stablecoins to the masses, potentially positioning them as a rival to legacy payment infrastructure.
However, the GENIUS Act might just be an extra boost and the shift for stablecoins has been underway for a long time. Stablecoin adoption has accelerated to the point where its transaction volumes now even surpass those of traditional payment networks
Looking at the adjusted stablecoin transfer volume, which excludes all MEV and intra-CEX stablecoin activity, we can see how it has grown steadily over the past four years, overtaking Visa for the first time in March 2024. The 30D stablecoin volume peaked at $2.8 trillion in January 2025, showcasing how stablecoins are now becoming one of the largest settlement systems in the world by value transferred.
Source: Artemis
Looking specifically at USDT, Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed on August 5th that USDT transfers now account for around 40% of all blockchain transaction fees across major networks, which highlights USDT’s dominance and intense on-chain usage.
Source: Paolo Ardoino
Considering this broader context, projects in this newly-formed category are sprinting to dominate the sector. Projects like Stable, Plasma, 1Money Network, and Circle’s Arc are designing chains where stablecoins are not just tokens running on top of the network, but are the network’s native asset, gas token, and primary use case. Together, they may be shaping the start of a new era for stablecoins to be a mainstream, widely-accepted type of asset.
However, from another perspective, it’s unclear why these projects are building their own L1s instead of launching on an Ethereum L2 for example. One answer could be that their strategy is giving them full design control, and could potentially make them an entity with more control over their chains’ activity, revenue, and roadmap since this approach also frees them from Ethereum’s roadmap or fee volatility.
The trade-off is likely big. They are losing access to Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem, liquidity, and integrations, which seems to indicate that they are targeting a different audience: everyone outside of DeFi or even Web3. With the GENIUS Act now giving stablecoins a clear legal framework in the US, it’s no surprise issuers are spinning up their own L1s to leverage potential stablecoin growth in the Web2 sector. It might be a smart move for payments adoption, but it also moves a vital part of crypto, stablecoins, closer to a compliance and centralization headache.
Stable
It is a stablecoin-focused L1 to implement zero gas fees and utilize USDT as the native gas token. Bitfinex became one of the first backers and is incubating it, but it’s also backed by Tether’s USDT0 and other notable investors including Hack VC, Mirana Ventures, Bybit, and KuCoin Ventures, among others, who participated in a $28M seed round.
How does Stable work?
Stable consists of a high-throughput L1 with sub-second finality optimized for USDT and featuring gas-free USDT0 transfers, minimal costs regardless of transfer volume, and an intuitive native wallet that simplifies the UX when transferring and managing USDT while also integrating easy debit and credit cards.
Their consensus mechanism is a customized PoS built on CometBFT with plans of decoupling data distribution from consensus and broadcast transactions directly to block proposers to reduce latency.
Stable’s roadmap hinges around on Autobahn (to be reached by Q2 2026), an upgrade inspired by DAG systems which would allow for parallel processing and faster finality by separating data propagation. Autobahn would preserve low-latency finality while enabling parallel proposal processing and improved resilience under high network load. By separating data propagation from final ordering, Autobahn eliminates single-leader bottlenecks, supports higher throughput, and can recover instantly from network “blips” without delays due to backlogs.
Overall, Stable makes a special emphasis on features for institutional adoption like guaranteed blockspace allocation, efficient USDT transfer processing, high throughput with transfer aggregation, comprehensive security measures, and the option for confidential yet compliant transfers.
Plasma
Also backed by Bitfinex and Tether (USDT0), Plasma is a stablecoin-focused L1 that aims to be the hub of stablecoins as a native protocol-level feature rather than being generic tokens on the chain. By implementing stablecoins at the protocol level, apps on Plasma could offer feeless transfers, allow users to pay gas directly with stablecoins, and make payments easily without depending on external payment providers.
Plasma aims to enhance stablecoin performance and usability while maintaining full EVM compatibility for easy dApp deployment, as well as facilitating large stablecoin transfer volumes with low latency through its efficient consensus mechanism.
They have raised over $75M from Bitfinex, USDT0, and VCs such as Framework Ventures, DRW/Cumberland, Bybit, Flow Traders, 6th Man Ventures, IMC, Nomura, Founders Fund, and a $50M sale through Echo.
Plasma is bound to launch their mainnet with a $1B+ stablecoin TVL thanks to successfully closing oversubscribed sales where backers committed to purchasing XPL, their utility token that is also used for transactions and rewards.
How does Plasma work?
Plasma will work with a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in which validators will be able to stake their own tokens, provide core infrastructure services, and receive rewards proportional to their contributions. There will be different types of nodes:
Validator Nodes | they will participate in consensus only once the mainnet is launched
Non-Validator Nodes | they finalize blocks and serve RPC traffic without affecting consensus
One of Plasma’s highlights is that it draws Bitcoin into the ecosystem through their native, Bitcoin bridge that is secured by verifiers and allows BTC holders to move their BTC into their EVM-compatible smart contracts. Although not fully “non-custodial”, the deposited BTC will be kept in a Plasma-controlled deposit address that is controlled with a multi-party computation (MPC), meaning that it’s not only controlled by Plasma, but by several entities which all share the private key while no one holds it fully.
As mentioned above, Plasma’s node structure will have validator nodes running the consensus mechanism when the mainnet is launched. These nodes will implement the Fast-Hotstuff Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) protocol called PlasmaBFT that allows parallel processing of consensus steps and follow a round-robin selection for proposing new blocks. On another hand, non-validator nodes are already operational. Non-validator nodes are read-only participants that are able to access blockchain data without participating in consensus.
Overall, PlasmaBFT’s design might ensure high throughput, predictability, and resilience thanks to pipelining, which will enable proposing new blocks while finalizing previous ones to maximize throughput and reduce latency. Its modular consensus will deliver finality in seconds through a simplified Proof of Stake system that selects validator committees via secure, stake-weighted randomness to cut communication overload. Also, instead of capital slashing, Plasma will apply reward slashing to reduce institutional risk while maintaining validator incentives.
1Money Network
Although based on social media traction, it seems to be lesser-known, 1Money is also building a new L1 purpose-built for stablecoin transactions to eliminate the complexity, unpredictable costs, and technical barriers that hinder further stablecoin mass adoption. 1Money has raised $20M from investors such as Galaxy Ventures, F-Prime (Fidelity Investments subsidiary), Kraken Ventures, and Tribe Capital.
1Money is led by former Binance US CEO Brian Shroder, along with Brett Enclade, who served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Ripple, and Kristen Hecht, who was Chief Compliance Officer at both Binance and Paxos. The company also recently appointed Kenneth A. Blanco, former Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) within the US Department of the Treasury, and Michael Mosier, former Deputy Director and Digital Innovation Officer at FinCEN, to its Board of Directors.
With a team combining industry experience and US regulatory expertise, and a stated focus on building a compliance-first stablecoin payments L1, 1Money’s team could be well-positioned to become a leader in the sector, especially now that the GENIUS Act has been signed into law.
1Money aims to simplify the user experience to the maximum extent possible by allowing users to pay for gas fees directly on the stablecoin being sent, with fixed fees, and a Byzantine Consistent Broadcast protocol that can process transactions simultaneously with equal priority and subsecond finality.
The network’s Testnet went live on August 6th, and already supports the gas fee abstraction with the payment stablecoin, fixed fees, sub-second finality, and a developer tooling portal to support the creation of stablecoin Web3 payments.
How does 1Money work?
1Money utilizes a patent-pending Byzantine Consistent Broadcast protocol, a deterministic Byzantine Fault Tolerant distributed system, to secure its network against exploits and faults. This mechanism enables sub-second transaction finality, processing all transactions simultaneously and with equal priority, regardless of their value to achieve a theoretical value of 250,000 TPS.
The network is permissionless and open. Its operations will be supported by compliant and permissioned validators, which will contribute to the network's enhanced scalability, security, and integrity. These validators will have to undergo a rigorous selection process that incorporates Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) measures.
The idea is for 1Money to support a wide range of fully-reserved stablecoins, but haven’t yet disclosed exactly which stablecoins are currently being supported. 1Money has not released much information about the architecture (like a whitepaper) and their social media activity is still low, but it might be one of the projects to look out for in the stablechain category.
Circle’s ARC
Lastly, Circle revealed Arc, an EVM-compatible L1 for stablecoin payments on August 12th in their Q2 2025 results report. Arc will use USDC for gas, include an FX engine, offer sub-second settlement, and have opt-in privacy. It will integrate with Circle's platform and existing services, and they expect to release a public testnet this fall and could likely be one of the strongest projects in the category given USDC’s importance and transaction volumes.
How does Arc Network work?
Arc will be an EVM-compatible L1 purpose-built for stablecoin finance and tokenization. It will use USDC as the native gas token to remove fee volatility, and supports deterministic sub-second settlement through a high-performance Malachite BFT consensus based on Tendermint, and will offer opt-in privacy to enable selective transparency for regulated financial workflows. Arc is clearly designed for use cases like global payments, programmable FX, and tokenized capital markets, aiming to serve as a compliant, institutional-grade settlement layer.
At launch, Arc will integrate tightly with Circle’s existing infrastructure, including USDC, EURC, USYC (tokenized short-term Treasuries), CCTP for cross-chain transfers, and Gateway for chain-abstracted USDC balances. This could make Arc both a liquidity hub for stablecoins and a distribution layer for deploying them instantly across other chains. Its architecture is permissioned-PoA (Proof of Authority) with a small set of vetted validators, aligning with the GENIUS Act framework and targeting regulated institutions. Their roadmap includes MEV mitigation, privacy upgrades, and eventual migration to a permissioned-PoS validator set for greater decentralization.
Stripe’s Tempo
Stripe is also building a Layer 1 chain called Tempo alongside Paradigm. While this L1 is not specifically categorized by Stripe as a “stablecoin-focused” chain, it will be a high-performance, payments-focused blockchain, which would make it fall into the category anyways. After their acquisition of Bridge and Privy, this move makes sense given the purchased companies were a stablecoins payment platform and a wallet infrastructure company.
How does Tempo work?
While details about its architecture are still vague, Tempo’s design will likely prioritize speed, compliance, and seamless integration into Stripe’s existing merchant network rather than competing in the broader DeFi space, based on the limited information available.
Their L1 is expected to enter the stablecoin-focused chain category although they haven’t explicitly stated it. In May of 2025 Stripe announced “Stablecoin Financial Accounts ”, giving businesses in 101 countries the ability to hold USDC balances, send and receive USD/EUR via traditional rails, and transfer stablecoins across eight blockchains, which already hinted Stripe’s bet on stablecoins
With those 5 projects conforming the category for now, these next projects aren’t building stablecoin-focused L1s, but their products and role within the industry still make them important to the growth of the stablechain category. They are addressing core needs such as institutional settlement infrastructure, compliance, and cross-chain capability, areas that will likely remain relevant in how stablecoin-first L1s scale.
Noble AppLayer
Noble is a platform that works with major stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Ondo to help distribute and issue stablecoins like USDC and USDY throughout the Cosmos network
How does Noble work?
It is designed as an application-specific blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK and leverages Cosmos’ IBC (Inter Blockchain Communication) protocol for cross-chain capabilities.
In April of 2025 they announced the Noble AppLayer, an EVM-compatible rollup that leverages Celestia as a data availability and consensus layer. The AppLayer aims to provide high-throughput and support for stablecoin-native applications, building on Noble's existing L1 infrastructure for stablecoin issuance. They make an emphasis on interoperability and cross-chain capabilities thanks to Hyperlane and Cosmos’ IBC Eureka.
Codex
It is a stablecoin-focused L2 built using Optimism’s OP Stack optimized for stablecoin operations with features such as low latency, high throughput, and a modular architecture. The most important features include stablecoin-native payments, FX, and settlement, and gas abstraction, liquidity, and custody for stablecoin-native applications.
Tether’s USDT0
It is a bridged version of USDT which leverages LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard and maintains a 1:1 peg with USDT (on Ethereum) via a lock-and-mint mechanism with the aim of eliminating fragmented liquidity.
While not really a direct participant in the newly-established stablecoin-focused L1s, it will become an important entity within the category since they are supporting both Stable and Plasma. Initially launched on Kraken’s Ink L2, USDT0 has expanded to networks including Berachain, MegaETH, Optimism, and Sei, with support continuing to grow.
Converge
While not a stablecoin-focused Layer 1 at all, Converge offers capabilities and an architecture that could position it as a relevant solution in the category. Developed by Ethena Labs and Securitize, Converge aims to function as a settlement hub for tokenized financial assets and institutional-grade DeFi applications and allows Ethena to bring its USDe stablecoin ecosystem (~$11B TVL), while Securitize brings tokenized RWAs including those tied to BlackRock.
Converge does not fit into the “stablechain” category, but also helps address the growing institutional demand for regulated yet performant blockchains. It is not “stablecoin-first”, but its design and ecosystem is rooted in stablecoins and tokenized assets which could make it an important player in this new ecosystem.
If the Stablecoin-focused chain category succeeds and gains active users, they won’t necessarily replace USDT, USDC, or any other stablecoin. Actually, they are working towards making them more dominant beyond the Web3 space by providing purpose-built rails that facilitate their adoption.
While none of these projects are primarily designed for launching tokens, they could lower the barrier for integrating stablecoins as a payment method. Their core objective is very clear: to make specific stablecoins, mainly USDT (Circle will likely focus on USDC), into leading assets for mass usage, not to become multi-asset ecosystems. Nevertheless, the real test will be whether they attract enough transaction flow and users to justify their existence beyond being niche payment networks.
From a tokenomics perspective, stablecoin-first ecosystems might just be the missing piece for projects that offer a good service yet don’t require a native token to function. Many projects in early design stages think they need a token because the space has conditioned teams to think that every project needs a token, when in practice, we’ve seen how this misconception adds to an ever-growing list of useless tokens.
Stablecoin-focused L1s could create a new kind of Web3 ecosystem. One where projects with strong fundamentals and mass adoption potential can easily operate entirely on stablecoins for payments and transactions, without the pressure to issue a token and leveraging the ease of use of stablecoins for their users to make payments.
However, diving into what Stable, Plasma, 1Money, and Arc are building, one thing is clear: they see upcoming stablecoin growth happening on layers that they can control and are heavily benefited by. Their products don’t seem to be built with DeFi users in mind, but are compliance-first institutional and real world-grade settlement layers for real applications targeting businesses, enterprises, and cross-border payments.
But this comes at a cost. By building their own L1s, these companies can control performance, fee structures, and features, but they also risk creating siloed ecosystems. Ethereum L2s would have given them instant liquidity, users, and composability in the broader DeFi scene, yet these projects are signaling they’re building for a different future in which stablecoins live in their own compliant ecosystems, integrated with banks, payment processors, and regulators, not just DEXs and lending protocols.
Simplicity Consultancy FZ LTD
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Simplicity Consultancy FZ LTD
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Simplicity Consultancy FZ LTD
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