Following the launch of the Blast mainnet on February 29 at 9:00 pm UTC, approximately $400 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) has been withdrawn from the Blast layer 2 network, unlocking previously staked cryptocurrencies valued at nearly $2.3 billion on the network.
Users of the Optimistic Rollup blockchain scaler can earn up to 5% annual returns on their Ethereum and stablecoins held on the network through staked ETH and U.S. Treasury Bills (T-Bills) managed by the blockchain protocol, in collaboration with Dai, the stablecoin creator of MakerDAO.
Ahead of the mainnet launch, cryptocurrency sent to the network was locked, leaving approximately 180,000 users unable to withdraw their funds. Despite initially reaching a total value locked (TVL) high of $2.27 billion on February 29, the TVL has since decreased by 17.5% to $1.87 billion post-launch, with nearly $400 million withdrawn, according to DeFiLlama data. Just days earlier, the network had achieved the significant milestone of surpassing $2 billion TVL on February 27.
The launch of Blast has attracted attention from airdrop hunters eager to obtain Blast tokens, which the team has announced will be launched in May. However, the launch has not been without controversy. Dan Robinson, director of research at Blast seed investor Paradigm, expressed disagreement with Blast's decision to launch the bridge before L2 or to restrict withdrawals for three months, stating that it sets a negative precedent for other projects. Robinson further criticized aggressive marketing tactics, stating that they detract from the productivity of serious teams and are not endorsed by Paradigm.
Additionally, the network experienced its first alleged exit scam on February 26, when a gambling protocol known as "Risk on Blast" attracted significant attention, collecting 420 ETH (valued at approximately $125 million at the time) in user funds before the incident occurred.
