Yesterday, the Echo team announced the launch of the ICO platform Sonar with its first project, Plasma. Let’s take a closer look at the platform, the project, and how to participate in this sale.
TLDR
Sale start: June 9
Fundraising in stablecoins
Sale follows an oversubscription model with deposit hold time considered
All assets are converted to USDT and locked for 40 days post-sale
KYC required. Russia likely banned (Echo already bans Russia)
Raising $50M at a $500M valuation (same as the latest funding round)
U.S. participants allowed, but only accredited investors. 12-month lockup for them.
Strong backers. Among them – Tether’s CEO
Sonar Platform
Sonar is a new ICO platform by Echo’s Jordan Fish (Cobie).
Sonar automatically verifies participants via KYC/AML, blocks users from restricted countries, checks accredited investor status, and analyzes wallets.
The allocation distribution system is based on oversubscription, not FCFS.
The platform doesn’t sell tokens directly – projects handle sales via their own websites. Sonar only verifies participants and ensures legal compliance; all financial transactions occur on the project’s side.
Russia is banned in Echo, so it will likely be banned in Sonar as well.
All participants, including existing Echo users, must register and complete KYC via Sonar.
Plasma is the first project on the platform.
Plasma Project
Plasma is a high-performance blockchain designed for stablecoin operations. The project aims to build a new global financial system with fast transfers and zero fees for USDT.
Unlike traditional blockchains, Plasma is specifically designed for stablecoins.
Functions as a Bitcoin-based EVM-compatible sidechain.
Currently in closed testnet, mainnet expected this summer.
Raised $27.5M across three funding rounds with participation from Framework Ventures, Founders Fund, Manifold Trading, Bitfinex, Peter Thiel, and Paolo Ardoino. The strategic round valuation (with Founders Fund) is $500M (same as the sale), but the funding amount is undisclosed.
Strong Twitter following: https://app.tweetscout.io/search?q=https://twitter.com/PlasmaFDN
Interesting Features
Option to pay fees in USDT and BTC instead of the native token via built-in oracles.
Zero fees for basic USDT transfers without metadata.
Confidential transactions in development – hiding transfer details while maintaining compliance.
Team
Hiring for three positions: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/plasma
LinkedIn shows ~15 employees.
The project has one founder.
Paul Faecks – Founder of Plasma
Also CEO and co-founder of Alloy (institutional digital asset management system).
Previously worked at Deribit.
Graduated from the Technical University of Munich.
Strong Twitter presence.
Frequent speaker and interviewee.
Twitter: https://x.com/pauliepunt
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-faecks-540895a4/
Hans Walter Behrens – CTO of Plasma
Former CEO of Topl (Bitcoin L2 protocol).
Holds a master’s and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Arizona State University.
Twitter presence weaker than the founder’s but still decent.
Not a public speaker.
Twitter: https://x.com/hwbehrens
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hwbehrens/
Tokenomics
Total supply: 10B XPL
Allocated for sale: 1B XPL (10%)
Sale price: $0.05 per XPL ($500M FDV)
XPL Token Functions
Network security via PlasmaBFT staking and consensus
EVM gas fees
Governance
Collateral for Bitcoin bridge
Sale on Sonar
Sale page with countdown: https://app.plasma.to/
Format: Oversubscription with deposit time considered.
Timeline: Several weeks of deposit period, then a 2-week sale, followed by a 40-day token lock post-sale.
TGE date unknown.
Sale starts: June 9, 16:00 MSK
Sale Stages
1. Deposit Period
Participants deposit USDT, USDC, USDS, or DAI into Plasma Vault. Funds are placed in Aave and Maker.
Deposits earn "units." More funds + longer hold = more units, which determine allocation size.
Funds can be withdrawn anytime, but units decrease proportionally.
Initial deposit cap: $100M, later increasing.
Deposit period lasts several weeks.
2. Lockup Period
After deposits close, funds are locked.
Lockup lasts at least 40 days post-sale. All stables are converted to USDT for bridging to Plasma.
3. Sale
Sale occurs on Plasma’s site: https://www.plasma.to. Use the same wallet as for deposits.
Units determine guaranteed XPL purchase amount in USDT, USDC, USDS, or DAI.
Extra funds can be deposited for potential leftover allocations.
U.S. participants must confirm accredited investor status.
Sale lasts 2 weeks after deposit period ends.
4. Network Launch
At Plasma’s mainnet launch:
Participants receive XPL tokens.
Deposited funds migrate to Plasma.
USDT withdrawals become available directly from Plasma (EVM).
U.S. participants receive XPL after a 12-month lockup.
Activities
Galxe quests: https://app.galxe.com/quest/plasma/GCCoot1Qph
Earn "SC Contributor" and "Plasma OG" Discord roles. SC Contributor is for helpful posts, Plasma OG (until May 31) is for early active members. Contribute quality messages and assist in general channels.
Competitors
None. As mentioned on the podcast, this project is built by a different cohort. Valuation is tricky – it should be worth more than all existing EVM L2s combined, including Babylon and Stacks.
Summary
A whale-friendly sale by a team with a proven product (USDT, ~$6B annual revenue per DefiLlama). Russia is likely banned, but if you have the funds, you probably know how to bypass restrictions. Note: the sale is lengthy, and your stables will be locked for a significant period.
