- Blast has finally gone live despite attracting controversy
- The Ethereum scaling layer had over $2 billion of total value locked before the launch
- Over $1 has been withdrawn less than a day after going live
Ethereum scaling layer Blast has gone live despite attracting controversy after asking prospective users to lock their funds in a bridge as they await the creation of the actual layer 2 protocol. Blast currently has $982 million in total value locked which is a significant drop from the over $2 billion locked in the network before going live. The scaling network promises annual yields and points, something that may have contributed to users depositing their funds in the network even before its launch.
Earning $85 Million Per Year
Announcing the launch on X (formerly Twitter), Blast disclosed it had received $2.3 billion from 181,888 users during the early access phase, adding that these users “are earning $85 million per year in native yield + Blast Points.”
During our Early Access phase, 181,888 community members bridged $2.3B to Blast. These community members are earning $85 million per year in native yield + Blast Points. pic.twitter.com/40HW7VtK9X
— Blast (@Blast_L2) February 29, 2024
Blast also revealed that over 3,000 entities were building “Dapps that can only exist on Blast” as they awaited the protocol’s mainnet launch.
The launch paves the way for the much anticipated Blast airdrop that will benefit both users and Dapps. Dapps can choose to keep the free tokens or distribute them to their users. Blast is encouraging users to flock to Dapps which “have committed to giving their Gold [airdrop tokens] to users.”
Users Awarded Fewer Points
The launch wasn’t without issues. Blast acknowledged two issues with invite points saying that some users are “seeing less point [or] smaller bonus than 10X.” The network however said that the anomaly will be “corrected retroactively.”
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
Blast going live comes a month after the protocol launched the “Big Bang” competition to attract developers to the protocol.
With the Ethereum scaling layer attracting over $2 billion in deposits pre-launch, it’s to be seen whether users will continue locking their funds in the protocol now that the network is live.
