Blast Ethereum L2 mainnet launch launched with $2.3B in stored crypto
About $400 million in Ether (ETH) was taken out of the Ethereum layer-2 network in an explosion after the mainnet launched on February 29 at 9:00 p.m.—about $2.3 billion worth of the crypto was previously locked up on the network. .
Optimistic Blockchain Balance offers users up to 5% annual percentage of profit on stakecoins held on Ether and on the network, staked ETH and United States Treasury Bills (T-Bills) managed by the blockchain protocol and Dai (DAI) stable coin creator MakerDAO.
Crypto sent to the network was locked before the mainnet was launched, giving 180,000 users no way to withdraw the money sent until now.
Explosive total value locked (TVL) hit a high of $2.27 billion on February 29, which is now down 17.5% to $1.87 billion, just below $400 million, DeFillama said.
The network passed the $2 billion TVL milestone for the first time on February 27th, just days before.
Airdrop hunters have flocked to the blockchain, working in hopes of cutting into the explosive token the group said was coming in May.
The explosive launch also came with controversy.
Dan Robinson, head of research at Blast Seed Investor, wrote in a Nov. 10 post that he disagreed with Blast's decision to “launch the bridge before L2 or allow withdrawals for three months.” Bad precedent for other projects”.
There are many elements of the explosion that I really enjoy and want to engage with people. That said, we at Paradigm think this week's ad crossed lines in both messaging and execution. For example, the…
— Dan Robinson (@danrobinson) November 26, 2023
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“We also think that most marketing will make a heavy team work cheaper,” added Robinson. “We do not support these tactics.”
The network saw its first alleged exit fraud on February 26 when the gambling protocol collected 420 ETH – worth $1.25 million at the time – of users' money for the RISK presale token that was put on the market.
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