System Overview

Plasma's architecture blends high-speed, modern consensus with Ethereum's battle-tested execution environment, all resting on top of Bitcoin for security. Understanding how these components fit together is critical to why Plasma is uniquely powerful for stablecoin settlement.

PlasmaBFT, our highly efficient consensus layer, integrates seamlessly with a Reth-derived execution client using a loosely coupled design built on the Engine API. In this design, PlasmaBFT handles sequencing while a Reth core manages transaction execution and EVM state management. This ensures that Plasma inherits full EVM compatibility without compromise: Reth guarantees that every smart contract and opcode behaves exactly as it would in Ethereum, while PlasmaBFT propels the chain forward.

Critically, this design accelerates performance beyond native approaches. Our consensus model can propose and finalize blocks in near-real time without requiring finality gadgets or other compatibility mechanisms. Instead, we optimize for speed and decisively confirm transactions, exceeding current industry standards while preserving the proven EVM model.

On this foundation, we leverage the strengths of our design to provide a decentralized settlement layer on Bitcoin. This enables users to move assets between chains and secure their assets using Bitcoin's PoW when appropriate—in a trust-minimized approach that ensures assets are never solely controlled by the bridge.

In the following sections, we will dive deeper into our design choices and lay out the roadmap for where Plasma will evolve.