Scalability is one of the major points of concern of the Ethereum blockchain. The current limitations faced by the network in terms of capacity and speed prevents it from being adopted on a larger global scale.
The Ethereum Plasma was proposed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin together with Joseph Poon. The concept was born in August of 2017 as a scaling solution technique for the Ethereum blockchain. Along with Thaddeus Dryja, Joseph Poon was also responsible for the conception of the Lightning Network, which is a scaling solution proposed for Bitcoin in 2015. Although Plasma and Lightning Network were both proposed as scaling solutions for blockchains, each has its own mechanisms and particularities.
This article will briefly introduce the Ethereum Plasma, but keep in mind that Plasma alone is not a project, it is an off-chain scaling technique, or a framework for building scalable applications, which can be implemented in distinct ways by different research groups or companies.