The rules of the stablecoin game have changed.

From earning spreads to collecting tolls, why are Tether, Circle, and Stripe all competing to build their own public chains?

The core logic is very clear: if it only relies on Ethereum or Tron, stablecoin issuers will never be able to control the clearing rights. Data from the second half of 2025 speaks volumes—Stable's two rounds of pre-stored value have exceeded 2.6 billion USD, and Plasma's DeFi TVL has reached 2.7 billion USD, ranking 8th across all chains, even surpassing second-tier stars like Sui and Aptos.

This is not about the speed of the chain, but about the discourse power of the US dollar.

The current situation is:

**Plasma+USDT**: Focused on retail and emerging markets (Turkey, Brazil, Argentina), turning stablecoins into a true everyday payment tool, with extremely low fees and no privacy leakage.

**Stable+ Multi-Chain Ecosystem**: Targeting B2B institutional settlement, using USDT as Gas, PayPal has entered the game, aiming to become "the home of all stablecoins."

**Arc (Circle)**: The compliant upgraded version of USDC, directly connected to traditional finance, known as "On-chain Wall Street".

**Tempo (Stripe+paradigm)**: A neutral route, not tied to a single issuer, more like AWS in the era of cloud services.

But the problems are also obvious: high concentration risk, multi-chain fragmentation, and centralized governance... In short, these new chains may ultimately replicate the centralized logic of traditional clearing networks, just packaged as a blockchain.

The train has started, the key is who holds the steering wheel.