New Ethereum Layer 2 Blast Attracts $30M Hours After Bridge Goes Live

Investors have bridged over $30 million in ether and stablecoins to Blast, the latest Ethereum layer 2 network, just hours after the project went live late on Monday.

The inflow is evidence of strong demand for Layer 2 networks or protocols that operate on top of a layer 1 blockchain, such as Ethereum, to reduce bottlenecks related to speed, cost and scalability. Bridges are blockchain-based tools that allow users to transfer tokens between different networks.

Also driving the charm is Blast's unique design: Depositors start earning yields on the transferred ether alongside BLAST points.

“Blast natively participates in ETH staking, and the staking yield is passed back to the L2’s users and dapps,” the team said in a post Tuesday. ‘We’ve redesigned the L2 from the ground up so that if you have 1 ETH in your wallet on Blast, over time, it grows to 1.04, 1.08, 1.12 ETH automatically.”

Users have to wait until the launch of the mainnet in February before they can withdraw any funds from the network or participate in on-chain activities. As such, Blast is invite-only as of Tuesday, requiring a code from invited users to gain access. Besides, the BLAST points can be redeemed starting in May.

Of the total funds bridged, data shows over $19 million in ether has been staked on Lido, where it is set to earn as much as 4% annualized yield. Another $3 million is on Maker, while a smaller tranche of $150,000 in dai (DAI) stablecoins sits idle in the wallet.

Users who bridge stablecoins receive Blast’s auto-rebasing stablecoin, USDB. The yield for USDB comes from MakerDAO’s on-chain T-Bill protocol.

Blast raised over $20 million in a round led by Paradigm and Standard Crypto and is headed by pseudonymous figurehead @PacmanBlur, one of the co-founders of NFT marketplace Blur.

@PacmanBlur said in a separate post that Blast was an extension of the Blur ecosystem, letting Blur users earn yields on idle assets while improving the technical aspects required to offer sophisticated NFT products to users.

BLUR prices rose 12% in the past 24 hours following the release of Blast.