StableChain, a Layer 1 blockchain supported by Bitfinex, has officially launched its mainnet, accompanied by the release of its native governance token, STABLE, and the establishment of the Stable Foundation. The network distinguishes itself by utilizing Tether's USDT as its gas token, with all on-chain transactions settled in USDT.
The launch aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem for both institutional and retail integrations, leveraging stablecoins for efficient payments. According to Stable CEO Brian Mehler, the mainnet launch establishes a foundation for individuals and companies to utilize a stable payment network, playing a central role in the trend of global payment infrastructure moving on-chain.
The STABLE token has a fixed supply of 100 billion. The distribution plan allocates 10% for genesis distribution, 40% for developer grants and ecosystem partnerships, and 25% each for the team and early investors. The team and investor shares are subject to a one-year lock-up period, followed by linear vesting over four years. The STABLE token is designed for network governance and security maintenance under the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism and does not serve as a payment function. It allows holders to delegate to validators and vote on key protocol decisions. The network runs on a delegated proof-of-stake consensus mechanism called StableBFT and offers staking rewards from a portion of network fees denominated in USDT.
The Stable Foundation will spearhead the allocation of the ecosystem fund, community initiatives, and protocol governance. It has already formed partnerships with Anchorage Digital, PayPal, and Standard Chartered's Libeara tokenization platform. These partnerships aim to integrate payments and DeFi, enabling both institutions and the DeFi community to join the ecosystem and use stablecoins for efficient payments.
Prior to the mainnet launch, a two-phase pre-mainnet deposit campaign attracted over 24,000 wallets, with more than $2.8 billion in funds deposited. Another report notes that the network attracted $2 billion in pre-deposits.
StableChain employs a two-token representation of Tether's dollar balance: an account-facing token visible to users and an internal gas accounting token used by the protocol. Gas fees are quoted and deducted in USDT, eliminating the need for a separate gas coin. The network's bundler and paymaster infrastructure handles conversions to the internal gas representation. Gas fees are accumulated into a treasury that can later be distributed to validators and, indirectly, to stakers of the STABLE token.
Stable previously secured $28 million in a seed round led by Bitfinex and Hack VC, with guidance from Paolo Ardoino (Tether CEO and Bitfinex CTO), Nathan Macauley (Anchorage CEO), and other crypto angel investors. In October 2024, Bitfinex also led a $3.5 million funding round for Plasma, an EVM-compatible sidechain focused on eliminating USDT transaction fees.
