Plasma Raises $500M in an Hour on Sonar ICO

- Plasma achieved a rapid $500 million fundraise in under an hour - Venture firms and tech companies showed strong interest Plasma, a stablecoin firm, successfully raised $500 million within an hour through its initial coin offering (ICO) on the Sonar platform on June 9, 2025. The ICO, which opened around 9:00 a.m. ET on that day, saw participation from over 1,100 wallets and reached its fundraising goal by 9:48 a.m. ET. On June 9, The Block reported that the rapid fundraise demonstrated significant interest, particularly from venture firms, institutions, and major tech companies. Participants deposited stablecoins such as USDC, USDT, USDS, and DAI into Plasma's vault, and this action earned them the right to purchase the project's token, XPL. The vault subsequently contained $345 million in USDC, $146.1 million in USDT, $7.5 million in USDS, and $1.21 million in DAI. Plasma capped individual deposits at $50 million. The ICO was hosted by Sonar, the initial coin offering subsidiary of Echo, an angel investing platform launched by prominent crypto trader Jordan Fish (also known as Cobie). Notably, Plasma, which was Sonar's first project, aimed to create an EVM-compatible sidechain designed to eliminate transaction fees for Tether's USDT stablecoin. Also on June 9, The Defiant reported that the initial $250 million cap filled instantly. Consequently, Plasma doubled the cap to $500 million, and this new amount also filled rapidly. Later on June 9, market data indicated stablecoin stability: as of 17:21 UTC, Tether USDt (USDT) was trading at $1, reflecting a minimal -0.007% change. Shortly thereafter, at 17:22 UTC, USDC also traded at $1, showing a 0.014% change. Meanwhile, Dai (DAI) was trading at $1, with a -0.015% change around the same time.