Blast seems poised to rank because the third-largest Ethereum Layer 2 by TVL at launch.
Blast, the controversial Ethereum Layer 2 from the builders behind the main NFT market, Blur, has scheduled its mainnet launch for Feb. 29.
The date was introduced through tweet on Feb. 26, near 4 months after Blast first started accepting deposits from customers. Blast gives native yields on ETH and stablecoin deposits through Lido’s liquid staking token, stETH, and MakerDAO. Depositors additionally earn Blast factors, that are anticipated to qualify holders for a future airdrop.
The announcement got here the day after Blast’s complete worth locked (TVL) broke above $2B amid sustained Ether value features. At launch, Blast is poised to rank because the third-largest Layer 2, sitting behind OP Mainnet with $7.6B and above Manta Pacific with $1.9B, in keeping with L2beat. Blast tweeted that it has acquired deposits from 157,638 wallets.
Blast controversy
Blast has constantly attracted criticism from the web3 group since bursting onto the scene in November.
The challenge initially copped flak for utilizing airdrop incentives to lure deposits to a one-way deposit contract providing no safety ensures past a three-of-five multisig pockets managed by pseudonymous builders earlier than publishing code or deploying its community. Critics additionally decried the challenge’s use of referral codes, a standard function amongst multi-level-marketing schemes.
Regardless of the considerations, Blast attracted greater than $500M price of deposits in lower than one week. With the vast majority of deposits comprising ETH, the challenge contributed to a short-term uptick in stETH’s already alarming dominance over the provision of staked Ether.
Blast lastly launched the code for its community in late January. The documentation ignited renewed criticism after sleuths accused the challenge of forking Optimism’s code with minimal modifications, altering the code’s license with out authorization, and with out giving credit score to its unique creator.
Danger accused of first Blast ecosystem rug pull
On Feb. 25, Danger, a Blast-based playing protocol, appeared to rug-pull its buyers within the first exit rip-off throughout the Blast ecosystem.
The challenge, which was overseen by nameless builders, raised 420 ETH ($1.36M) from greater than 750 group members in a pre-sale seed spherical earlier than shutting down its web site and social media accounts. Knowledge from Arkham Intelligence signifies that RiskOnBlast’s wallets have been emptied. SomaXBT, a fraud-focused on-chain analyst, flagged transactions displaying RoskOnBlast’s property transferring via centralized exchanges and coin mixing protocol.
Blast promoted RiskOnBlast in a Feb. 13 tweet, describing the challenge’s potential as “simple” amid their participation in its BIg Bang ecosystem competitors. Blast has not issued an announcement acknowledging the challenge for the reason that alleged exit rip-off.
