Stablecoin firm Plasma raises $20m in Series A round

Plasma, a Peter Thiel-backed crypto platform looking to build a Bitcoin-based network for stablecoins, has announced it raised $20 million in its Series A round.

Venture capital firm Framework Ventures led the stablecoin startup’s latest funding round, Plasma said on Feb. 13. 

The startup plans to use the capital injection to support its network’s testnet and mainnet launch. Funds will also go into an initiative aimed at expanding the company’s presence in the remittances market. Plasm also targets payments and decentralized finance ecosystems.

This investment brings the startup’s total VC raise to $24 million, with the platform having secured $4 million in a previous round. 

Other than prominent venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Plasma counts Tether’s chief executive officer Paolo Ardoino, crypto traders Zaheer Ebtikar and Cobie among its angels and advisors. Crypto exchange Bitfinex led the stablecoin startup’s $4 million round in October 2024. Notably, backers over the financing rounds include DRW/Cumberland, Bybit, 6th Man Ventures, Flow Traders and Nomura.

Plasma will offer a sidechain on Bitcoin (BTC), and be fully compatible with the Ethereum (ETH) Virtual Machine. The project aims to transform the DeFi ecosystem with solutions that help resolve key market challenges, including high fees, scalability and security. 

Providing for zero-fee Tether (USDT) transactions is a major objective of the project’s blockchain design.

“With strong growth in both supply and users, we are entering a new phase of mainstream adoption for stablecoins. To meet this challenge, it’s more important than ever to have secure, decentralized, and scalable infrastructure in place. Plasma is designed to provide these essential rails by leveraging Bitcoin as its security layer,” Ardoino said.