Blast winds down $20M layer-2; Oct. 26 withdrawal deadline

Blast announced on Oct. 2 that it will wind down its optimistic rollup after determining operating costs exceed revenue and the project lacks a viable route to economic sustainability.

The shutdown begins with an unwind of assets staked via Lido, a process the team expects to take about one week. Withdrawals will be paused during the Lido unwind. When that process finishes, withdrawals through Blast’s progressive web app will reopen with a 24-hour exit delay.

Users are asked to withdraw funds through the web interface by Oct. 26. After that date, balances will remain recoverable only by interacting directly with Blast’s bridge contracts on Ethereum mainnet.

The withdrawal request covers balances held in the PWA and other on-chain balances tied to the layer-2. The team plans to publish step-by-step instructions for using the bridge contracts before the Oct. 26 cutoff.

Blast disclosed $20 million in funding from Paradigm and Standard Crypto in November 2023, opened early access that month and had planned a mainnet launch for February 2024. The network routed yield from ETH staking and real-world-asset protocols, identifying Lido and MakerDAO as sources of yield.

Following the shutdown announcement, Blast’s native token fell roughly one-third in value within 24 hours.

Users holding funds on the layer-2 should follow Blast’s forthcoming instructions and move assets to Ethereum mainnet by Oct. 26 to use the standard withdrawal interface. If users miss the deadline, they will need to retrieve funds via the bridge contracts on mainnet.