Blast Launches Ethereum L2 Main Network, Unlocking $2.3 Billion in Cryptocurrency
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Ethereum Layer-2 Blast launched its main network on February 29 at 21:00 UTC, unlocking approximately $2.3 billion in cryptocurrency previously locked on the network, of which approximately $280 million made an initial exit.
The optimistic accumulative blockchain scaler gives users annual percentage returns of up to 5% on Ether (ETH) and stablecoins stored on the network, generated from staked ETH and US Treasury Bills (T-Bills) governed by the MakerDAO blockchain protocol.
The cryptocurrency sent to the network was locked before the mainnet launched, so until now its 180,000 users were unable to withdraw the funds sent.
According to DeFiLlama, Blast's total value locked (TVL) peaked at $2.27 billion on February 29, and it dropped to less than $2 billion after launch.
Blast's total locked value peaked at nearly $2.3 billion, falling to $1.99 billion after the mainnet launched. Source: DeFiLlama
The network passed the $2 billion TVL mark for the first time a few days earlier on February 27.
Airdrop hunters have flocked to the blockchain, mining it in hopes of gaining access to the Blast token, which the team says will arrive in May.
The launch of Blast also caused controversy.
Dan Robinson, director of research at Paradigm investor Blast Seed, wrote in a November post that the venture capital firm disagreed with Blast's decision to "run a bridge to L2 or not allow withdrawals for three months," believing it "sets a bad precedent for other projects."
There are a lot of components to Blast that interest me and I'd be interested in talking to people. However, we at Paradigm think this week's announcement crossed the line in both message and execution. For example, we disagree with the decision to launch...
— Dan Robinson (@danrobinson) November 26, 2023
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“We also believe that a lot of marketing cheapens the work of a serious team,” Robinson added. "We do not condone such tactics."
The network had already witnessed its first alleged scam with its exit on February 26, when a gambling protocol called "Risk on Blast" soared with 420 ETH - worth about $1.25 million at the time - of user funds it had raised for its sale pre-sale RISK token.