Blast achieved a TVL surge of more than 200 million US dollars in just two days. This rapid growth shocked the entire Layer 2 market that had been sluggish for a long time. Although the Blast mainnet will not be officially launched until February, this has not stopped users from enthusiastically locking up their positions. To date, Blast has attracted more than 75,000 users, and the total locked value has exceeded $800 million. This rapid growth shows the great potential of the Blast project and the high recognition of it by users. The wealth-making effect of blockchain has made traditional finance ready to take action. Friends who want to participate in Blast private placement please add WeChat at the end of the article.
Blast has completed a $20 million round of financing co-invested by Paradigm and Standard Crypto. Compared with Arbitrum, which is also in the Layer 2 network, it only received US$3.7 million in its first round of financing in 2019, and Optimism’s first round of financing in 2020 only reached US$3.5 million. Blast has such a high first-round financing. In addition to the participation of the Blur team, it is also inseparable from the support of members from MakerDAO, MIT, Yale University, Seoul National University and other teams and institutions of higher learning. However, apart from these bonuses, what is the strength of Blast?
Introduction to Blast
Project name: Blast
Track: L2
Investment institution: paradigmm
Private equity lock-up: No lock-up
Circulation volume: 10 billion
Expected launch: 1st quarter of 2024
First platform: Binance Oyi
Blast is a Layer 2 network based on Optimistic Rollup, which is EVM compatible and has native benefits. On this platform, users’ balances will be compounded automatically and they will have the opportunity to earn additional Blast rewards. This project was co-founded by a team with extensive experience in Maker DAO, MIT, Yale University, and Seoul National University, together with Pacman.
Recently, Blast completed a $20 million round of financing from institutional and individual investors such as Paradigm, Standard Crypto, eGirl Capital, and Mechanism Capital. Among them, Paradigm and eGirl Capital were also investors in previous Blur projects.
The characteristic of the Blast project is that it claims to be a Layer 2 that can help users make money. Its revenue comes from Ethereum staking and the RWA protocol, which will be automatically returned to Blast users. Compared with other Layer 2 default interest rates of 0%, the Ethereum interest rate on Blast is 4% and the stablecoin interest rate is 5%.
Logic: On the Bast platform, after users deposit ETH or stablecoins across the chain, these funds will be deposited into on-chain Treasury Bill protocols (T-Bill) such as Maker DAO, and generate income. These earnings will be returned to Blast users via USDB, Blast’s automatic base stablecoin. To put it simply, users deposit funds into Layer 2 of Blast, and then Blast will use these funds to pledge in Layer 1. The Layer 1 of the pledge is Lido. Finally, Blast will return the interest earned to the user. In this process, users not only earn interest, but also have the opportunity to earn Blast points. This kind of points can be used to receive airdrops, which is consistent with the previous BLUR points.
The core purpose of Blast adopting this strategy is to expand TVL (Total Value Locked). Attract users through ETH staking to increase TVL, and then allow developers to earn income through CSR (Community Sentiment Reserve). Once this project came out, it attracted the attention of a large number of KOLs and giant whales in the industry. Considering that this project has not yet received sufficient attention from the majority of investors, friends can try to shift some of their attention from Inscription to Blast.
L2 track competitiveness
Some analysts believe that the technical advantages held by Blast enable it to surpass other Layer 2 networks of the same level and achieve faster and more reliable transfers and transactions. In addition, the founders, including Pacman, have deep technical background and resources, and have established efficient project management and operation mechanisms through multiple successful investments and rich experience. These factors will put Blast in a favorable position in future competition.
Blast makes a point about why another Layer2 is needed. They believe that cryptocurrencies also have inflation problems. There is no base interest rate for funds deposited on other Layer 2 chains, so the value of a user's assets will depreciate over time. Blast is committed to achieving the goal of letting Layer 2 bring its own income, that is, after users deposit assets, Blast will regularly distribute income. This strategy is similar to a bank’s principal- and interest-guaranteed fixed-income savings product. It has always been in market demand and is attractive to most people. At the same time, this "spreading money" strategy is also a secret magic weapon to increase the total lock-up value.
Therefore, the reason why Blast needs another Layer 2 is that it hopes to bring more profits and value preservation opportunities to users through this innovative strategy, while also attracting more users and funds to itself. This concept is believed to play a unique role in the cryptocurrency market.
Blast also makes money in a few ways. They use the ETH deposited by users to participate in Lido's pledge. For users who deposit stablecoins such as USDC, USDT, and DAI, Blast deposits these stablecoins into on-chain revenue protocols like Maker DAO, and then uses Blast The native basic stable currency "USDB" will transfer the income back to the users. There is currently no further introduction to the stablecoin "USDB" launched by Blast.
Through such a strategy, Blast is able to use user savings to obtain more profits and pass these profits back to users through its own stablecoin. This method can not only ensure the safety and stability of users' deposits, but also bring additional sources of income to users. This innovative approach has some traction in the cryptocurrency space and has earned Blast a certain market share. We believe that as time goes by, Blast will further improve and promote this concept and bring more opportunities and benefits to users.
How to attract developers
As a Layer 2 solution, Blast not only needs to attract users, but also needs to attract various DApps to join in order to build its own ecosystem. To this end, Blast has developed a series of strategies to attract developers.
First of all, Blast attaches great importance to compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem. This means that any Ethereum-based DApp developer can easily migrate to Blast. This compatibility provides developers with the convenience of migrating existing DApps to the Blast platform more quickly, reducing development costs and time.
In addition, Blast emphasized their “distribution of wealth” advantage. In DApps deployed on Blast, developers can monetize deposits through simple configuration just like users. This mechanism provides developers with more freedom and flexibility, allowing them to monetize their deposits and earn more revenue.
More importantly, Blast will return gas fee income to developers. Developers can choose to retain this revenue or use it to subsidize gas costs for users. This mechanism provides developers with more opportunities and incentives, allowing them to better participate in the construction and development of the Blast ecosystem.
In Blast’s airdrop plan, 50% of the airdrop quota is reserved for developers. It will be launched in January next year together with the Blast test network. This airdrop program provides developers with more revenue opportunities, allowing them to earn more rewards in the Blast ecosystem.
Through these strategies, Blast hopes to attract more DApp developers to join their ecosystem and form a solid moat. Their EVM compatibility and the "distribution" advantage provided to developers provide developers with more opportunities and incentives, and also make the Blast ecosystem more prosperous and diverse. I believe that in the future, Blast will continue to attract more developers and users and bring more innovation and progress to the entire blockchain field.
All in all, Blast received a huge amount of financing in the initial stage, which shows how optimistic the market is about the project. However, only if Blast can continue to optimize and improve its technical strength and operational capabilities can it go further in the fierce competition.
