There are countless projects entering the public chain track now, but you'll find that most L1s (like Ethereum, Solana, and other top chains) are pursuing a single goal — becoming a "universal chain."

Their logic is straightforward: the more functions, the better. NFT support, Meme support, DeFi integration — they want everything. It's like a fully equipped big city, doing everything and anything.

But here’s the problem: trying to do everything often means not doing anything optimally. Performance gets squeezed by complex business logic, and scenarios that require high efficiency are actually overlooked.

XPL (Plasma Network) takes a different approach. Its positioning is very clear — "Native Stablecoin." This is not just a marketing gimmick but a systematic design from the underlying architecture to the economic model.

**What’s the core difference?**

In traditional general-purpose public chains, stablecoins are just smart contracts running on top, with no special status compared to other assets. But in the XPL system, stablecoins are treated as "first-class citizens." From the network’s fundamental logic, the processing path for stablecoin payments is separately optimized, rather than competing for resources with other business activities.

Plus, mechanisms like Paymaster further elevate stablecoin settlement to a core network function, not just an auxiliary feature.

**Settlement Center vs. Computing Center**

This is the real distinction. General-purpose chains have to allocate computing resources to meet diverse demands like NFT trading, Meme celebrations, DeFi interactions, etc. As a result, when the network is busy, transaction delays for stablecoins increase, and reliability diminishes.

XPL takes the opposite approach — positioning itself as an efficient clearing and settlement center. Since it doesn't need to worry about other DApp demands, optimizing pathways for large or high-frequency stablecoin flows becomes its main focus. Every node design, every line of code optimization, points toward a single goal: minimizing transfer costs, maximizing speed, and ensuring the most stable user experience.

It's like a professional financial district with dedicated high-speed lanes and counters; every improvement on the native stablecoin chain follows this logic — vertical integration.

**What does this mean?**

From a macro perspective, XPL and chains like Ethereum and Solana are not competing in the same track. The former asks, "Who can attract more developers?" while the latter asks, "Who provides better payment infrastructure?"

This differentiation actually reflects the maturity of the blockchain industry — no longer an era of "one chain to rule them all," but a stage where each chain specializes in its own role. Some chains focus on computing power, others on ecosystem richness. So why not have a dedicated chain designed specifically for stablecoin settlement?

Vertical integration is becoming the trend.