A new project has taken the Cryptoverse by storm. Ethereum Layer 2 Blast’s TVL is nearing $2 billion ahead of its mainnet launch and an upcoming Blast airdrop at the end of the month. Notably, commenters argue that the protocol – created by the BLUR team – already has an entire ecosystem ready to go.
Let’s dive deeper.
Blast TVL Skyrocketing
Blast was introduced on November 21.
Within 48 hours, the team said Blast TVL reached $230 million, with 37,131 users earning yield.
Moreover, that number hit $570 million within a single week.
By Friday morning (UTC), Blast’s TVL reached a whopping $1.841 billion.
Hence, given its current trajectory, it’s reasonable to expect it could hit $2 billion in a matter of days.
Source: defillama.com/protocol/blast
From Blur to Blast
Blast was created by the team behind the top NFT marketplace BLUR. More specifically, Tieshun Roquerre (aka Pacman) created both.
Blur has quickly risen as a competitor to OpenSea. Currently, it has $36.52 billion in total volume compared to OpenSea’s $9.03 billion, per DappRadar.
Meanwhile, the team members hail from FAANG, Yale, MIT, Nanyang Technological University, and Seoul National University. They have worked on major protocols in DeFi and Web3.
Moreover, Blast is backed by, among others, Paradigm and Standard Crypto, raising $20 million from them.
Given its background, it’s unsparing that many have high expectations from the project.
Earning Yield
Blast is described as the only Ethereum L2 with native yield for ETH and stablecoins.
The yield comes from ETH staking and Real World Asset (RWA) protocols. While the default interest rate on L2s is typically 0%, it’s 4% for ETH and 5% for stablecoins on Blast, says the website.
“Your balance on Blast compounds automatically,” the team noted.
Also, users who bridge stablecoins receive USDB, Blast’s auto-rebasing stablecoin. The yield for USDB comes from MakerDAO’s on-chain T-Bill protocol. It can be redeemed for USDC when bridging back to Ethereum.
The Blast mainnet launch is scheduled for February 2024, and points redemption for May 2024.
An Entire Ecosystem
“We are seeing the ecosystem being formed right under our noses,” collector MoonCat2878 wrote.
“One of the biggest perks of being a depositor (bridger) into BLAST, is the fact that all new protocols, MEME coins and so on will want to draw that $ 1.5 billion TVL towards them.”
Meme coins are a major point here. PUMP will be one of the most recognizable meme coins from day one, said the collector, arguing that it could become a $1 billion meme coin on BLAST.
Moreover, the PUMP team plans to airdrop 10% of the supply towards bridgers. “I am sure all of the others will follow them.”
Popular digital art collector Cozomo de’ Medici recently described Blast as “one of the biggest opportunities of 2024,” “an “almost free profit opportunity,” and possibly “one of the most profitable moves I’ve made.”
“Not only I will get Blast reward points – but airdrops and things from the projects building on top of it.”
Blast, he says, is going to be its own ecosystem “that has everything.” This includes DeFi, DEXes, NFTs, memecoins, and more.
Over 3,000 teams are already building on the protocol. Blast users will be getting airdrops from many of these as well.
At the same time, says the collector, “EVERYTHING is incentivized to yield and to bring back value to bridgers.”
Blast Airdrop Incoming – Are You Eligible?
At the end of November, the team announced that the invite-only Blast Early Access is live. Participants will be rewarded with Blast Points based on how much they bridge and whom they invite.
The Developer Airdrop launched in January with the Blast Testnet.
The Blast Community Airdrop is split between Early Access Members (50%) and Developers (50%).
Those who bridge ETH to Blast start earning points immediately. These go towards the Blast airdrop, which many analysts and commenters expect to be massive.
MoonCat2878 argued the number could be around $1.5 billion, writing:
“Honestly I would be surprised if BLAST wouldn’t launch at around $15-20 billion as an entire new L2 with huge names behind it, a lot of liquidity and so many things building on top of it ready to go.”
While the airdrop amount is unknown, MoonCat2878 opined that “20% would be fair,” and 10% would be the lowest: 5% for users and developers each.
At a $15 billion valuation, the collector said, it would equate to $1.5 billion in airdrop.
Notably, Blur distributed the 5th largest airdrop in Ethereum history.
Developers Flocking to Blast
Developers seem to find Blast attractive. This indicates a future expansion of the Blast ecosystem.
The EVM-equivalent Blast said that yield enables new revenue streams and novel rewards for end-users.
“Yield as a primitive unlocks new business models for Dapps,” the website says. “Dapps can easily monetize deposits with a single config.”
Also, Blast gives 100% of revenue from gas fees back to developers.
Meanwhile, 146,579 users have deposited nearly $2 billion to Blast in anticipation of the mainnet launch. “When the Blast mainnet launches, the bridge contract will unlock and release all those users and funds to your dapps,” the website told developers.
Moreover, on January 16, the testnet went live, and with it the Big Bang Competition for developers building dapps on Blast long-term.
The deadline was February 16, and the team will announce the winners today. There were so many applicants (over 60 hours of submission videos) that the team decided to increase the number of winners per category and allocate more rewards.
“The LARGEST individual allocation of the Blast Airdrop to date will be distributed to winning teams,” according to the team. The prizes are non-transferable.
All this said, while a project may sound attractive, understand that it comes with a set of risks and be sure to do your research.
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