Plasma: The Blockchain Challenging DeFi’s Stablecoin Status Quo

• Plasma is a new Layer 1 blockchain, distinct from the older Ethereum scaling solution, purpose-built for stablecoin transfers.
• It aims to offer zero-fee USDT transactions and lightning-fast settlement by leveraging Bitcoin’s security and an EVM-compatible environment.
• The project recently garnered immense attention, raising $1 billion in stablecoin deposits for its XPL token public sale, valuing the network at $500 million FDV.
• Backed by prominent investors like Founders Fund and Bitfinex/Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, Plasma seeks to challenge established stablecoin infrastructure like Tron.
• Its core technology includes PlasmaBFT consensus and a trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge, with a roadmap towards full decentralization and advanced features.
• Despite its ambitious vision, the project faces scrutiny regarding deposit concentration, allegations of insider activity, and the formidable challenge of unseating incumbents.

Introduction: The Stablecoin Settlement Layer We Didn’t Know We Needed?

The world of decentralized finance (DeFi) is a relentless arena of innovation, where new protocols emerge daily, each vying for a slice of the digital economy. Amidst this flurry, a project named Plasma has recently captured significant attention, not for scaling Ethereum as its namesake once did, but for an audacious new mission: to become the definitive purpose-built blockchain for stablecoins. With stablecoins now boasting over $250 billion in supply and facilitating trillions in monthly transfers, the need for specialized infrastructure is becoming undeniable.¹ Plasma steps into this void, promising a future of zero-fee USDT transfers, Bitcoin-anchored security, and full EVM compatibility, aiming to redefine how digital dollars move.¹

A crucial point of clarity must be established from the outset: this Plasma is distinct from the older Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution that shares its name. The original Plasma framework, proposed by figures like Joseph Poon and Vitalik Buterin, aimed to alleviate Ethereum’s congestion by processing transactions off-chain through “child chains”.⁵ While innovative, this earlier iteration faced significant challenges, including complexity in implementation, long withdrawal periods (often 7-14 days), and concerns about data availability and potential centralization, which ultimately led to its limited widespread adoption.⁵ The current Plasma, the subject of this report, is a completely different entity: a standalone Layer 1 blockchain, a Bitcoin sidechain, with its own consensus mechanism (PlasmaBFT) and native token (XPL).¹ The shared nomenclature creates a potential for confusion, but the underlying architecture and purpose are fundamentally disparate. This distinction is paramount for understanding the current project’s unique value proposition and the specific challenges it aims to address, which are far removed from the scaling debates of yesteryear. The analysis that follows focuses exclusively on the Plasma blockchain detailed on plasma.to.

Unpacking Plasma: How the Stablecoin Engine Works

Plasma is engineered from the ground up to optimize the stablecoin experience, moving beyond the general-purpose limitations of many existing blockchains.³ Its architecture is a blend of custom-built components and established blockchain technologies, all designed for high-throughput, low-latency stablecoin transactions.

At its core, Plasma leverages PlasmaBFT, a custom consensus protocol inspired by Fast HotStuff and written in Rust.¹ This mechanism is optimized for rapid finality and low-latency transaction processing, achieving consensus in fewer communication steps—often just two rounds—when the network is operating honestly.⁹ This design allows for thousands of transactions per second (TPS), a throughput crucial for handling the demands of global stablecoin payments.¹ PlasmaBFT operates under classic Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) security assumptions, remaining secure as long as no more than 33% of validators are malicious.⁹

Plasma’s execution layer is built on Reth, a high-performance, modular, Ethereum-compatible execution engine written in Rust.¹ This means Plasma is 100% EVM compatible, allowing any smart contract deployable on Ethereum to be deployed on Plasma without code modifications.¹ This compatibility is vital for attracting DeFi developers and applications, enabling a seamless migration of existing smart contracts and fostering a familiar development environment. The strategic imperative of this EVM compatibility is clear: it significantly lowers the barrier to entry for developers and projects already entrenched in the Ethereum ecosystem, thereby avoiding the “cold start” problem of building a new developer community from scratch. This approach allows Plasma to leverage the vast existing DeFi landscape, positioning itself as a full-fledged DeFi hub for stablecoins, not merely a payment rail.

A key differentiator for Plasma is its native, trust-minimized Bitcoin Bridge.¹ While technically a Layer 1 blockchain with its own consensus, Plasma periodically anchors state differences on Bitcoin, aligning its design philosophy with the Bitcoin ecosystem and making it a Bitcoin sidechain.¹ This anchoring mechanism is touted to provide robust security guarantees by leveraging Bitcoin’s unparalleled decentralization and security.³ This strategic choice to brand itself as a “Bitcoin sidechain” is a powerful narrative play, aiming to combine the perceived “immaculate security” of Bitcoin with the flexibility and speed of an EVM-compatible BFT chain. This dual identity could appeal to both the DeFi crowd, accustomed to EVM programmability, and the more security-conscious Bitcoin community, potentially broadening its adoption base.

Plasma aims to introduce zero-fee USDT transfers.¹ This ambitious feature is designed to eliminate transaction costs for USDT, a significant hurdle on other chains. The mechanism involves a split-block architecture.¹¹ One layer handles regular, charged transactions (which are faster), while another is dedicated to processing free transactions (which are slightly slower).¹² This “delay-based prioritization system” allows users willing to wait longer to transfer USDT without fees, effectively bypassing traditional gas costs and avoiding the “flawed user experience” often seen on general-purpose chains.⁴ However, it is important to note that this critical “zero-fee” feature is still under active research and has not yet been implemented.¹¹ This indicates that while the promise is compelling, its full realization and efficient deployment in a live environment remain a future technical challenge. The project also plans to implement custom gas tokens, allowing transaction fees for other operations to be paid in popular assets like USDT or BTC, further simplifying the user experience by removing the need to acquire separate native gas tokens.¹ Looking ahead, Plasma is actively researching confidential transactions to protect users’ transaction details without sacrificing compliance, a feature that could offer a layer of privacy for stablecoin movements and address growing market demand.¹

The Architects and Their Backers: A Brief History of Plasma’s Ascent

Plasma’s journey has been marked by significant backing and a rapid ascent, attracting both institutional capital and widespread retail interest, signaling a potential shift in crypto fundraising dynamics.

The Plasma Foundation team is led by Paul Faecks, who brings experience from Goldman Sachs and previous blockchain development.³ The broader team boasts a diverse and impressive background, including expertise in software engineering from Apple and Microsoft, high-frequency trading at Goldman Sachs, distributed systems research from institutions like Imperial College London and Los Alamos National Lab, and hands-on experience building some of the largest stablecoins and blockchains.¹ More than ten engineers from prominent projects like Fuel, Nethermind, Bloomberg, and Protocol Labs have recently joined, bolstering the project’s technical capabilities.¹⁴

Plasma’s financial foundation is robust, beginning with a substantial $24 million funding round (seed and Series A) completed in February 2025.³ This round attracted a notable roster of investors, including Framework Ventures, Bitfinex, Bybit, Flow Traders, 6th Man Ventures, IMC, and Nomura Securities.¹² A particularly significant development was the strategic investment from Founders Fund, the venture capital firm founded by Peter Thiel, announced in May 2025, specifically aimed at accelerating stablecoin adoption in key regions like Latin America and the Middle East.¹² The direct involvement and investment from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino further underscores a powerful strategic alignment with the stablecoin giant, hinting at deep integration possibilities.³ This caliber of institutional backing provides Plasma with immediate credibility and a significant competitive edge, suggesting that the project is not merely building a chain, but an ecosystem with powerful allies.

Plasma chose Sonar, a new token sale infrastructure developed by Echo (founded by well-known trader Cobie), for its public sale of the XPL token.¹² This marked Sonar’s very first public sale, adding a layer of anticipation to the event. The sale offered 10% of the total XPL supply at a $500 million fully diluted network valuation, a figure that precisely matched Plasma’s most recent equity raise led by Founders Fund.¹⁴ Participants were required to deposit stablecoins (USDT, USDC, USDS, or DAI) into a Plasma vault on the Ethereum mainnet, with their allocation determined by a time-weighted share of total vault deposits.¹² These deposited funds were pragmatically deployed into Aave and Maker using Veda’s audited vault contracts, which currently secure over $2.6 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL).¹⁶

The XPL public sale quickly became a spectacle of market demand. The deposit period, initially expected to last “a matter of weeks,” saw an initial cap of $100 million, which rapidly increased.¹⁶ On June 12, 2025, Plasma reopened deposits, and the revised $1 billion cap was filled in under 30 minutes, effectively doubling its previous $500 million target.¹⁸ Earlier, a $500 million vault had filled in a mere five minutes, oversubscribed by ten times.² This extraordinary demand led to striking anecdotes, including one trader reportedly spending $100,000 on Ethereum gas fees just to secure an allocation.¹⁹ This frenzied activity sparked widespread commentary about the “ICO revival” or “ICO 2.0”.¹⁰ As pseudonymous trader IcoBeast quipped on X, “Plasma instant cap fill today is a gigantic beacon signaling meta shift. ICOs are officially back, and Sonar is likely the most impactful crypto-native release of 2025 for the direction of crypto”.¹⁹ The irony was palpable: a project promising “zero-fee” transfers triggered a “gas war” during its own token sale, a classic crypto paradox where the pursuit of future efficiency often comes at a steep present cost.

Despite the narrative of “broader and more inclusive participation” ¹⁶, the distribution of these deposits revealed a significant concentration of capital. Data from Arkham Intelligence and Sealaunch indicated that 70% of the $1 billion in deposits were held by the top 100 wallets, with an even tighter concentration where 38% of the funds were held by the top 10 depositors, and 50% by the top 17.¹⁸ Plasma itself acknowledged “bot-driven deposits” in the first phase and reopened the process with “short notice to reduce bot setups and create more room for real participants,” implicitly highlighting the challenges to achieving true fairness.¹⁸ Furthermore, controversy arose when crypto trader Hanzo alleged that over 100 wallets involved in the sale received $48 million USDC via Coinbase Premium shortly before the offering, suggesting possible insider involvement or privileged access.²¹ This stark contrast between the stated goal of broad, fair participation and the observed concentration of funds, coupled with allegations of pre-positioning, presents a critical point for scrutiny. It underscores the persistent challenge of democratizing access to early-stage crypto projects, even with new “fair launch” mechanisms, when faced with sophisticated players and capital concentration. Plasma clarified that these deposited funds are not the token sale itself, but rather funds that earn the right to participate in the sale, remaining owned by depositors and eventually bridged to the Plasma Mainnet Beta. Only a small portion, $50 million worth of XPL, will be offered for purchase.¹⁰

Plasma’s Arsenal: Features Designed for the Digital Dollar Era

Plasma distinguishes itself through a suite of features meticulously crafted for the unique demands of stablecoins, moving beyond the general-purpose limitations of many existing blockchains.

The flagship feature, as previously discussed, is the ambition for zero-fee USDT transfers.¹ This aims to eliminate transaction costs for USDT, a significant hurdle on other chains, and is designed to enhance the universality and convenience of stablecoin payments, particularly for large-scale daily micropayment scenarios.¹¹ This bold economic model seeks to cut extra costs and avoid the “flawed user experience” of separate gas tokens on general-purpose chains.⁴

Plasma’s Bitcoin Security Anchor is another core strength. By anchoring its state roots to the Bitcoin mainnet, Plasma harnesses Bitcoin’s proven security model, delivering robust security guarantees and removing single points of failure.¹ This trust-minimized design provides a highly decentralized, tamper-resistant foundation, aiming to combine the unparalleled security of Bitcoin with the speed and flexibility of a modern Layer 1 blockchain.

The network is engineered for high-throughput scalability, designed to process thousands of transactions per second (TPS) via its PlasmaBFT consensus.³ This capability is a direct response to the scalability issues faced by current settlement layers, ensuring that Plasma can handle the massive transaction volumes required for global stablecoin adoption.³

Furthermore, Plasma’s 100% EVM compatibility ensures a familiar development environment. By building on Reth, it allows for the seamless deployment of existing Ethereum-based smart contracts without modification.¹ This strategic choice is crucial for attracting DeFi developers and applications, enabling a rapid expansion of the ecosystem by leveraging the vast existing talent pool and smart contract libraries.

Looking ahead, Plasma plans to introduce custom gas tokens, allowing transaction fees for non-zero-fee operations to be paid in popular assets like USDT or BTC, rather than requiring a separate native token for gas.¹ This aims to further simplify the user experience. The project is also actively researching confidential transactions to protect users’ transaction details without sacrificing compliance.¹ This feature could offer a layer of privacy for stablecoin movements, addressing a growing demand in the market while navigating regulatory requirements. This dual focus on privacy and compliance reflects a pragmatic approach to attracting both retail users and institutional players.

Beyond its technical specifications, Plasma’s strategic partnerships act as a critical “feature.” The project is building a dedicated ecosystem with deep liquidity through collaborations with key players across payments and DeFi.⁴ This includes integrations with Yellow Card, a leading stablecoin on/off-ramp in Africa, and BiLira, a Turkish Lira-pegged stablecoin, establishing immediate reach into crucial regions.¹⁴ On the DeFi side, partnerships with blue-chip applications like Curve and Ethena are set to expand USDT utility within the broader DeFi ecosystem.¹⁴ These alliances are fundamental to achieving “deep liquidity” and ensuring that core stablecoin functionality is available from day one, providing immediate network effects and real-world adoption pathways.

Navigating the Undercurrents: Risks and Challenges

Despite its ambitious vision and significant backing, Plasma, like any nascent blockchain project, faces a complex array of risks and challenges that warrant careful consideration.

A primary concern revolves around initial centralization and the path to decentralization. At its initial mainnet launch, validation will begin with a selected group of trusted entities.¹² While this “controlled phase” is a common strategy to establish stability and security in a new network, it inherently introduces a degree of centralization.¹² The project states it will eventually transition to a permissionless model, allowing anyone to become a validator ¹², but the timeline and the successful execution of this transition are critical for long-term trust and censorship resistance. This initial centralization, combined with the observed concentration of XPL deposits, suggests that early control and influence over the network might be significantly centralized, a common criticism for new blockchains.

The market concentration of XPL deposits is another significant point of scrutiny. As highlighted, the XPL public sale saw a highly concentrated distribution, with 70% of the $1 billion in deposits held by the top 100 wallets.¹⁸ Even more acutely, 38% of the funds were held by the top 10 depositors, and 50% by the top 17.²⁰ This concentration, despite the project’s stated goal of “broader participation” and a “fair launch,” raises concerns about potential whale influence over the network’s future, particularly in governance. This disparity between stated ideals and observed market behavior is a recurring theme in crypto, illustrating the difficulty of achieving truly broad distribution in capital-intensive and information-asymmetric markets.

Adding to these concerns are allegations of insider involvement surrounding the XPL sale. Crypto trader Hanzo alleged that over 100 wallets involved in the sale received $48 million USDC via Coinbase Premium shortly before the offering, suggesting possible insider activity or privileged access.²¹ While these remain allegations, they underscore the transparency challenges inherent in high-demand token sales and can erode public trust, regardless of the project’s technical merits.

Plasma’s direct challenge to Tron’s dominance in stablecoin transfers is perhaps its most significant competitive hurdle. Tron currently holds over 50% of Tether’s $155 billion supply and is described by analysts as having “probably the biggest moat within crypto at the moment, apart from Tether themselves”.¹¹ Dislodging such an entrenched incumbent, even with a compelling “zero-fee” model, requires immense “boots-on-the-ground” effort and strong local relationships.¹⁵ This is a high-stakes battle for the future of stablecoin infrastructure, where network effects and established user habits present formidable barriers.

Furthermore, while Plasma leverages Bitcoin’s security through state anchoring, it remains an independent sidechain with its own consensus mechanism.¹ General sidechain risks include not inheriting the exact same level of security as the mainnet and a reliance on its own validators, which could introduce vulnerabilities if their security is weaker than the main chain.²² While PlasmaBFT is designed for security (with a 33% malicious tolerance) ⁹, the practical security of a new, independent validator set will need to be proven over time in a live, high-stakes environment. Finally, the core “zero-fee USDT transfers” feature, while a powerful selling point, is explicitly stated as “under active research and has not yet been implemented”.¹¹ The successful and efficient deployment of this complex architectural change is a significant technical challenge and a potential point of failure or delay, which could impact user adoption if not delivered as promised.

The Plasma Proposition: What Sets It Apart?

In a crowded blockchain landscape, Plasma’s uniqueness stems from its laser-sharp focus and strategic design choices, positioning it as a specialized tool for a specific, yet massive, financial need.

Firstly, its identity as a purpose-built blockchain for stablecoins sets it apart. Unlike general-purpose chains that retro-fit stablecoin functionality, Plasma is engineered from the ground up specifically for the unique needs of stablecoins.¹ This deep specialization allows for profound optimization, addressing issues like high fees, centralization, and the lack of specialized features that often plague stablecoin use on other networks.¹ This design philosophy represents a fundamental re-evaluation of blockchain architecture based on market demand, making a bold bet that optimizing for a single, dominant use case will yield superior performance and user experience.

Secondly, Plasma benefits from direct industry backing and strategic alignment with Tether. The direct investment from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and Bitfinex ³ provides Plasma with an unparalleled strategic advantage. While not officially the “Tether chain,” this strong relationship with the largest stablecoin issuer in the world ³ signifies deep alignment and potential for seamless integration, giving it a significant edge over competitors.¹⁵ This connection suggests that Plasma could become the preferred settlement layer for USDT, potentially shifting significant stablecoin velocity away from other chains and providing a unique pathway to deep liquidity.

Thirdly, the zero-fee model (aspirational) for USDT transfers is a powerful differentiator.¹ By aiming to bypass traditional gas tokens and costs, Plasma seeks to unlock new use cases for micropayments and significantly enhance the user experience for stablecoin transfers globally.¹¹ This ambitious economic model, if successfully implemented, could fundamentally alter stablecoin utility, making them viable for everyday transactions where even small fees are prohibitive.

Finally, Plasma’s combination of Bitcoin-anchored security with EVM flexibility offers a unique hybrid model. It leverages the robust security of Bitcoin through state anchoring, providing unparalleled security guarantees.¹ Simultaneously, its full EVM compatibility ensures programmability and developer-friendliness, allowing for the deployment of complex smart contracts and access to the vast DeFi ecosystem.¹ This “best of both worlds” approach aims to provide the highest level of security for stablecoin value while maintaining the versatility required for modern decentralized applications.

The Path to Decentralization: Plasma’s Governance Model

The long-term health, security, and integrity of any blockchain network are intrinsically linked to its governance structure. Plasma’s approach outlines a clear progression from initial control to a fully decentralized, community-driven model.

The XPL token is integral to the Plasma system. It is designed to secure the PlasmaBFT consensus mechanism and power execution through the Reth-based EVM.¹² As the native cryptocurrency of the Plasma network, XPL serves as “fuel for the execution layer” and plays a “core role in the system”.¹² While the specifics of its direct governance utility (e.g., voting on proposals) are not exhaustively detailed in the provided materials, its foundational role in consensus and security strongly implies its future importance in the network’s decentralized governance.

Plasma’s phased decentralization roadmap acknowledges that at its initial mainnet launch, validation will begin with a selected group of trusted entities.¹² This controlled phase is a pragmatic choice, allowing the team to establish a stable and secure network, iron out any initial kinks, and provide support for further protocol improvement.¹² The long-term vision, however, is a transition to a “permissionless model,” allowing anyone to become a validator, thereby achieving complete decentralization and enhancing network security.¹² This approach is a common strategy for new Layer 1 blockchains, balancing the need for stability and rapid development in early stages with the ultimate goal of decentralization.

To foster broader engagement and community involvement, Plasma is establishing a “Stablecoin Collective”.²⁴ This is described as a research-driven community focused on in-depth discussions, data analysis, and creative contributions, with quests and roles designed to encourage active participation.²⁴ This initiative indicates an effort to build a grassroots community alongside the project’s significant institutional backing, aiming to counterbalance any potential concentration of power from early large holders. The success of this community-building effort will be crucial in fostering a truly decentralized ecosystem as the network matures.

The true test of Plasma’s governance will be its commitment and execution of the transition to a permissionless model. The initial reliance on trusted validators, while pragmatic for launch, inherently introduces a period of centralized control. This, combined with the observed concentration of XPL deposits during the public sale, means that early control and influence over the network might be significantly centralized. The challenge for Plasma will be to genuinely transition to a decentralized model and mitigate the influence of early large holders, ensuring that the network truly lives up to the ethos of decentralized finance.

Outlook: Charting the Future of Stablecoin Finance

Plasma’s roadmap outlines a phased approach to deployment and feature enhancement, signaling its long-term aspirations to fundamentally redefine how stablecoins function within the global economy.

The current status sees Plasma following a phased rollout strategy, with the initial Mainnet Beta expected to launch in 2025.³ This beta phase will deploy core components, including the PlasmaBFT consensus protocol and the fully EVM-compatible execution layer.¹³ The immediate focus during this phase is on establishing a robust and secure foundation for early integrations with stablecoin issuers, onramp providers, liquidity providers, banking-as-a-service platforms, and fintechs.¹³ The XPL public sale, which generated immense demand, represents the “initial step in distributing XPL tokens” and a “critical step in launching the Plasma network”.¹⁴ While the deposit phase has concluded, the actual token sale date is not yet set.¹⁹

The potential for the future for Plasma is ambitious. The project aims to become the universal settlement layer for USDT and potentially other stablecoins, capturing market share from incumbents like Ethereum and Tron.³ By enabling zero-fee transfers and high throughput, it seeks to unlock new use cases and efficiencies that current chains struggle to match.³ This vision extends to disrupting traditional financial rails, with Plasma targeting a slice of the massive $150 trillion+ cross-border payments market.¹¹

Plasma is already laying the groundwork for this future through strategic integrations and regional expansion. It is launching with a strong network of strategic partners across payments and DeFi. This includes prominent on/off-ramps like Yellow Card (a leading stablecoin on/off-ramp in Africa) and BiLira (a Turkish Lira-pegged stablecoin), establishing immediate reach into crucial regions like MENA and Africa.¹⁴ These “boots-on-the-ground” efforts are vital for competing with entrenched players like Tron, which has built its dominance through deep local relationships.¹⁵ On the DeFi side, partnerships with blue-chip applications like Curve and Ethena will expand USDT utility within the broader DeFi ecosystem.¹⁴

Looking ahead, Plasma plans to roll out core stablecoin feature enhancements in subsequent phases. This includes the full implementation of custom gas tokens and the highly anticipated zero-fee USDT transfers, moving them from research to live functionality.¹ The project also intends to deliver confidential transactions and continuously optimize performance and usability.¹³ Further down the roadmap, Plasma will focus on building native tooling and infrastructure, including comprehensive APIs, SDKs, and management tools, to facilitate seamless wallet and onramp integration, empowering developers and financial institutions to fully utilize Plasma’s stablecoin-first architecture.¹³

The overwhelming demand for Plasma’s XPL public sale, characterized by rapid oversubscription and high gas fees, has been widely interpreted as a signal of the “ICO revival” or “ICO 2.0”.¹⁰ This sentiment suggests a renewed appetite for utility-based token sales with improved investor protections. Plasma’s performance post-launch will be a bellwether for this “ICO 2.0” thesis. Its ability to deliver on its promises and maintain investor confidence will determine if this is a fleeting moment of hype or a genuine shift in crypto fundraising and adoption. The market’s enthusiasm, despite inherent risks, underscores a deep demand for innovative infrastructure, particularly in the stablecoin space.

A Bold Bet on the Future of Money

Plasma emerges as a formidable contender in the evolving landscape of decentralized finance, placing a bold bet on the future of stablecoins. By designing a Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for digital dollars, leveraging Bitcoin’s security, and striving for zero-fee transactions, it seeks to address critical pain points in global money movement. Its impressive funding, strategic partnerships, and overwhelming public sale demand underscore a significant market appetite for its vision.

However, the path ahead is fraught with challenges. The project must navigate the complexities of initial centralization, the formidable competitive moat of incumbents like Tron, and the successful implementation of its ambitious “zero-fee” feature. The concentration of XPL deposits and allegations of insider activity also remind observers that even the most innovative projects are subject to market dynamics and scrutiny.

Ultimately, Plasma represents a critical experiment in specialization within the blockchain space. If it can deliver on its promises, it has the potential to reshape how trillions of dollars in stablecoins are transferred, making a tangible impact on global payments, remittances, and the broader DeFi ecosystem. Its journey will be a telling indicator of whether the crypto market is truly entering an “ICO 2.0” era, where utility and specialized infrastructure take center stage. For more insights into the evolving landscape of Layer 1 solutions and their impact on DeFi, exploring articles on https://cryptopress.site can provide further context.

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