What Is Stable Blockchain? The 2025 Guide to USDT-Native Payments

Stable is a Layer 1 blockchain designed specifically for stablecoin transactions, with Tether's USDT serving as both the primary transaction currency and the native gas token. Unlike general-purpose blockchains that treat stablecoins as one of many assets, Stable—often called a "stablechain"—optimizes every layer of its infrastructure exclusively for digital dollar settlement.

The network launched its mainnet in December 2025 after raising $28 million in seed funding led by Bitfinex and Hack VC. By using USDT for transaction fees, Stable eliminates a major friction point in blockchain payments: the need to hold volatile native tokens just to move stablecoins.

Most blockchains weren't designed for monetary settlement. Ethereum, which hosts the majority of stablecoin supply, requires approximately three minutes to finalize transactions and demands users pay gas fees in volatile ETH. During network congestion, these fees can spike unpredictably, making simple stablecoin transfers expensive and unreliable for payment applications.

This creates several problems for anyone using stablecoins for real-world transactions. Users must manage multiple token types—stablecoins for value transfer and native tokens for fees. Businesses face unpredictable transaction costs that fluctuate with crypto market conditions. Cross-border payment providers experience settlement delays that undermine the speed advantages of blockchain technology.

According to McKinsey research on stablecoin infrastructure, the global stablecoin market now processes between $20 billion and $30 billion in daily transactions. Yet these transactions still represent less than 1% of global money movement, largely due to infrastructure limitations on existing networks.

Stable addresses these challenges through purpose-built architecture that treats stablecoins as first-class citizens rather than secondary tokens. The network achieves this through several key design decisions.

Every transaction on Stable uses USDT to pay network fees, creating a single-token economy. Users never need to acquire, hold, or manage a separate gas token. This design choice significantly reduces complexity for payment applications, where predictable, dollar-denominated costs are essential for business planning.

The Stable blockchain whitepaper explains that this approach allows enterprises to build payment systems without exposing treasury operations to cryptocurrency volatility. Transaction costs remain stable and measurable in dollar terms, just like traditional payment processing fees.

Stable implements StableBFT, a Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism optimized for high-volume stablecoin settlement. The network delivers deterministic finality in under one second, matching the speed expectations of modern payment systems while maintaining the transparency and programmability of blockchain infrastructure.

This performance level positions Stable competitively against both traditional payment rails and other blockchain networks. J.P. Morgan's analysis of stablecoin infrastructure suggests that instant settlement represents one of the primary advantages driving institutional interest in blockchain-based payment systems.

Stable incorporates several capabilities designed for institutional adoption. The network supports guaranteed blockspace for applications requiring consistent performance, confidential transfers for privacy-sensitive transactions, and direct interoperability with traditional banking infrastructure through compliance frameworks and regulatory reporting tools.

These features address common enterprise concerns about blockchain payments. PYMNTS research on stablecoin orchestration indicates that major payment companies are investing billions in acquiring stablecoin infrastructure capabilities, with orchestration, compliance, and reliability as primary focus areas.

While USDT powers all user-facing transactions, Stable introduces a separate STABLE token for network security and governance. This separation keeps payment operations simple while enabling decentralized protocol management.

STABLE token holders participate in validator delegation, protocol governance votes, and network security through staking. The token has a fixed supply of 100 billion with no inflationary emissions. Instead of new token issuance, staking rewards come from a share of USDT-denominated network fees collected in a protocol vault.

The token allocation breaks down as follows: 10% for genesis distribution, 40% for developer grants and partnerships, 25% for the team, and 25% for early investors. Team and investor allocations include a one-year cliff and four-year vesting schedule to align long-term incentives.

The Stable Foundation, launched alongside the mainnet, manages protocol development, ecosystem grants, and community governance. This structure aims to balance institutional partnerships with decentralized community participation.

The difference between Stable and general-purpose blockchains comes down to specialization. Ethereum, Solana, and similar networks optimize for programmability and composability across diverse use cases. They support everything from DeFi protocols to NFT marketplaces to complex smart contract applications.

Stable makes a different trade-off. By focusing exclusively on stablecoin settlement, the network can optimize transaction flow, minimize latency, and deliver predictable performance for payment applications. This specialization approach mirrors how Eco's stablecoin liquidity infrastructure creates focused solutions for cross-chain dollar movement.

General-purpose networks charge gas fees in native tokens that fluctuate with market conditions. On Ethereum, a simple USDT transfer might cost anywhere from $0.50 to $7.00 depending on network congestion. Stable's USDT-denominated fees remain predictable and transparent, allowing businesses to accurately forecast transaction costs.

Ethereum requires roughly three minutes for transaction finality. Layer 2 solutions improve this but add complexity through bridge infrastructure and additional security assumptions. Stable delivers sub-second finality at the base layer, eliminating the need for secondary scaling solutions for most payment applications.

Moving stablecoins on traditional networks requires users to understand gas tokens, monitor network congestion, and manage multiple assets. Stable simplifies this to a single-token experience where dollars in equal dollars out, with fees clearly displayed in familiar terms.

Stable enters a growing field of specialized stablecoin infrastructure. Cointelegraph reports that several projects are building blockchain networks specifically optimized for stablecoin operations.

Circle announced Arc, an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain designed for enterprise-grade stablecoin payments, foreign exchange, and capital markets. Arc features USDC as the native gas token, a built-in FX engine for currency conversion, and opt-in privacy for compliant confidential transactions.

Plasma raised $24 million to build a USDT-focused blockchain and launched its mainnet beta in September 2025. The network uses a similar model with stablecoin-denominated fees and optimization for payment throughput.

Payment giant Stripe disclosed plans to launch Tempo, a new Layer 1 network, after CEO Patrick Collison stated that existing blockchains are "not optimized" to handle the growing stablecoin volume flowing through Stripe's platform.

This competitive activity validates the market need for specialized payment infrastructure. As Fireblocks research on stablecoin infrastructure notes, organizations are moving beyond experimentation toward production deployments, and infrastructure choice increasingly determines competitive advantage.

The network targets several specific applications where stablecoin optimization delivers clear advantages.

Traditional international money transfers involve correspondent banking relationships, multi-day settlement, and significant fees. Stable enables instant settlement in digital dollars with predictable transaction costs. This positions the network as infrastructure for remittance providers and international payment services.

Corporate treasury operations require reliable settlement times and transparent costs for financial planning. Stable's USDT-denominated fees and sub-second finality address these requirements. Businesses can settle invoices, manage supply chain payments, and coordinate treasury operations without cryptocurrency market exposure.

Developers building payment-focused applications benefit from simplified infrastructure. Rather than building abstraction layers to hide gas token complexity from users, applications on Stable can offer straightforward dollar-in, dollar-out experiences. This reduces development time and improves user interfaces.

While Stable optimizes for payments, its EVM compatibility allows stablecoin-focused DeFi applications to deploy on the network. Lending protocols, yield aggregators, and liquidity management tools can operate in a purely stablecoin environment without volatile asset exposure.

Stable implements a modular architecture with several specialized components.

The execution layer runs Stable EVM, a version of the Ethereum Virtual Machine optimized for USDT-centric operations. This maintains compatibility with existing Ethereum development tools while adding specialized precompiles for stablecoin operations and parallel execution capabilities.

The consensus layer operates StableBFT, which combines Byzantine Fault Tolerance with Delegated Proof-of-Stake. Validators propose and validate blocks while delegators stake STABLE tokens to participate in network security. This separation between payment settlement in USDT and security provision through STABLE keeps the user experience simple.

The network layer implements a split-path architecture that assigns different communication channels to specific operation types. This segregation improves performance for high-volume payment flows while maintaining security for governance operations.

Stable's design anticipates integration with traditional financial workflows rather than replacement. The network supports direct interoperability with banking infrastructure through compliance frameworks, regulatory reporting capabilities, and real-time settlement with financial partners.

This hybrid approach acknowledges that mainstream payment adoption requires working within existing regulatory structures. The Stable Foundation's governance model includes provisions for compliance-focused development, positioning the network for institutional adoption in regulated markets.

Like any new blockchain infrastructure, Stable faces several challenges and uncertainties.

Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus concentrates validation among a smaller set of operators compared to networks with thousands of independent validators. This improves performance but may reduce censorship resistance. The trade-off prioritizes transaction speed and finality over maximal decentralization.

Blockchain ecosystems benefit from developer activity, application diversity, and user adoption. Stable launches into a competitive environment where Ethereum and other established networks have years of ecosystem development. Building comparable network effects requires sustained investment in developer tools, application partnerships, and user adoption initiatives.

While the GENIUS Act in the United States provides some regulatory clarity for stablecoin operations, global regulatory frameworks continue evolving. Stable's close integration with USDT ties the network's success to ongoing regulatory acceptance of Tether specifically and stablecoins generally.

Major payment companies and established blockchain networks are also building stablecoin capabilities. Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard are all investing in blockchain payment infrastructure. Layer 2 solutions are reducing costs and improving speed on Ethereum. Stable must demonstrate clear advantages to win market share from these alternatives.

Stable launches during a period of significant growth in stablecoin adoption. According to data from the Bank for International Settlements cited by Wikipedia, the global stablecoin market reached approximately $255 billion as of June 2025, with nearly 99% pegged to US dollars.

This represents a 55% increase from the previous year. Stablecoin transaction volumes have similarly surged, with Gemini's research on stablecoin adoption showing growing use cases beyond cryptocurrency trading into cross-border payments, merchant settlement, and treasury management.

The growth trajectory suggests sustainable demand for stablecoin infrastructure improvements. As more value moves through digital dollar systems, specialized networks like Stable may capture market share by offering superior performance for specific use cases.

While Stable builds a specialized Layer 1 blockchain, Eco takes a different approach to solving stablecoin infrastructure challenges. Rather than creating a new blockchain, Eco provides cross-chain liquidity infrastructure that enables seamless stablecoin movement across existing networks.

Eco Routes offers fast stablecoin bridging with optimized execution across major Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks. This approach leverages existing blockchain infrastructure while solving the liquidity fragmentation problem through intelligent routing and active solver liquidity.

Both approaches address pain points in the stablecoin ecosystem, but from different angles. Stable optimizes the base layer for payment operations. Eco optimizes interoperability and liquidity across the multichain landscape. These strategies may prove complementary as the stablecoin economy matures across multiple specialized and general-purpose networks.

The launch of specialized stablecoin blockchains like Stable signals a maturation of the digital asset ecosystem. Rather than expecting general-purpose networks to serve all use cases, the industry is developing differentiated infrastructure for specific applications.

This mirrors the evolution of traditional technology infrastructure, where specialized databases, messaging systems, and compute platforms replaced monolithic systems with purpose-built solutions. The blockchain space appears to be following a similar path toward specialization and differentiation.

For payment providers, this creates strategic choices about infrastructure selection. Cross-chain stablecoin infrastructure from Eco enables working across multiple networks. Specialized chains like Stable offer optimized performance for specific use cases. Traditional payment rails continue improving their digital asset capabilities.

The competitive dynamic between these approaches will likely determine which infrastructure captures the majority of global stablecoin payment volume as adoption scales beyond the current $20-30 billion in daily transactions toward the trillions of dollars that move through legacy payment systems.

What is the main difference between Stable and Ethereum for stablecoin transactions?

Stable uses USDT as the native gas token for transaction fees, while Ethereum requires users to hold and spend volatile ETH to move stablecoins. Stable also delivers sub-second finality compared to Ethereum's three-minute settlement time. The network's entire architecture optimizes specifically for stablecoin payments rather than general-purpose smart contract execution.

Do I need STABLE tokens to use the Stable blockchain?

No. Users pay transaction fees in USDT, not STABLE tokens. The STABLE token functions exclusively for network governance and validator staking. This design keeps the user experience simple by maintaining a single-token economy for payment operations.

How does Stable blockchain compare to Layer 2 scaling solutions?

Layer 2 solutions improve transaction speed and reduce costs on existing blockchains but add complexity through bridge infrastructure and additional security assumptions. Stable delivers comparable performance at the base layer while maintaining a simplified user experience focused specifically on stablecoin transactions. Layer 2s serve broader use cases across DeFi and other applications.

Is Stable blockchain compatible with Ethereum tools and wallets?

Yes. Stable implements the Ethereum Virtual Machine, making it compatible with existing Ethereum development tools like Solidity, Hardhat, and ethers.js. Standard Ethereum wallets can interact with the Stable network. This compatibility allows developers to migrate existing stablecoin applications with minimal code changes.

What are the transaction costs on Stable compared to other blockchains?

Stable charges transaction fees in USDT with predictable, dollar-denominated pricing. The network aims for consistently low costs compared to the variable gas fees on Ethereum, which can range from $0.50 to $7.00 depending on congestion. Exact fee structures depend on network activity and are designed to remain lower and more predictable than general-purpose networks.

Who are the main backers and partners of Stable blockchain?

Stable raised $28 million in seed funding led by Bitfinex and Hack VC. Other investors include Franklin Templeton, Castle Island Ventures, and Susquehanna Crypto. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino serves as an advisor. Partnership announcements include Anchorage Digital for custody services, PayPal for payment integration, and Standard Chartered's Libeara platform. The ecosystem currently includes over 150 partners building on the network.