Blast to wind down Ethereum L2 after costs outpace revenue
Blast is shutting down because operating costs now exceed chain revenue, and the team says there is no credible path to economic sustainability. Users are being told to withdraw assets to Ethereum mainnet. Withdrawal delays will be cut to 24 hours, but withdrawals will be temporarily paused while Blast unwinds its Lido assets, which should take about a week. Users have until Oct. 26 to withdraw through Blast’s interface; after that, withdrawals will still be possible but only by interacting directly with Blast bridge contracts on Ethereum. Blast launched in late 2023 from Blur founder Tieshun “Pacman” Roquerre, promising native yield on ETH and stablecoins plus token-related incentives. It briefly attracted over $2 billion in deposits before its February 2024 mainnet launch. Since then, activity collapsed as the NFT and broader crypto downturn deepened. Blast’s DeFi TVL has fallen more than 98% from its June 2024 peak.
