Blast Mainnet Launch Sees $1.3 Billion Withdrawn by Users

On February 29th, developers of the Ethereum Layer 2 solution, Blast, launched the mainnet, unlocking over $2.3 billion for withdrawal. 

The Blast Mainnet is NOW LIVE

Early Access users can bridge to Mainnet and use Blast-native Dapps that don’t exist anywhere else? pic.twitter.com/mt5dJOADMp

— Blast (@Blast_L2) February 29, 2024

Blast is an EVM-compatible scaling protocol utilizing Optimistic Rollups. The platform offers a passive income of 4-5% annually. 

The project was launched in November 2023 by the founder of the NFT marketplace Blur, under the pseudonym Pacman. Initially, the protocol lacked even a test network and invited users to deposit coins via a bridge. 

The Blast team had stated that asset withdrawals would only be possible after the mainnet launch. Over several months, the total value locked (TVL) on the platform exceeded $2.3 billion with 180,000 users. 

According to DeFi Llama, with the mainnet launch, the protocol’s TVL plummeted by $1.3 billion to $906 million. 

The L2 network likely garnered significant attention due to the announced airdrop of native BLAST tokens, scheduled for May. Early users received additional points for depositing assets via the bridge. 

According to the Blast team, users may currently encounter various issues such as incorrect balances or missing bonus points. 

Besides this, there are two issues with invite Points:

1. Some users are seeing less Points than they originally had from Early Access. This is because Points from invites are not correctly reflected in the Dashboard.
2. Some users are seeing a smaller bonus than 10x. This is… https://t.co/OrZy8i3f9r

— Blast (@Blast_L2) February 29, 2024

For those experiencing connectivity issues with the Blast network, developers have recommended adjusting RPC settings. 

If you are having trouble connecting to Blast Mainnet, try connecting to one of the alternative RPCs https://t.co/cikbAG7Ywc pic.twitter.com/LQvZYc5hTN

— Blast (@Blast_L2) February 29, 2024

Earlier, on February 25th, the L2 network experienced its first rug pull — developers of RiskOnBlast withdrew 420 ETH worth approximately $1.25 million, shutting down the website and social media.