Blur made two big moves today. It not only started the Season 2 airdrop, but also launched Blast, a Layer 2 network with its own revenue.

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?

Some analysts believe that the technical advantages held by Blast enable it to conduct transfers and transactions faster and more reliably across other Layer 2 networks of the same level. Moreover, the founders, including Pacman, all have very rich technical backgrounds 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.

In short, Blast has received such a huge amount of financing in the initial stage, which also 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.

Why another L2?

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 by default, 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 kind of fixed-income savings product that allows users to deposit assets similar to banks and guarantees principal and interest has always been in market demand and is attractive. For Blast, this "spreading money" strategy is not only attractive to most people, but it is also a secret magic weapon to increase the total locked-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.

Like most users, Blast makes money in some 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 will deposit these stablecoins into on-chain revenue protocols like MakerDAO, and then transfer the revenue back to users through Blast's native basic stablecoin "USDB" . The stablecoin "USDB" mentioned by Blast was launched by them themselves, and there is no more relevant introduction yet.

Through such a strategy, Blast is able to use user savings to obtain more benefits and pass these benefits back to users through its own stable currency. 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. Although the relevant introduction of the stable currency "USDB" is still relatively limited, we believe that as time goes by, Blast will further improve and promote this concept and bring more opportunities and benefits to users.

How Blast attracts developers

As a Layer 2 solution, Blast must not only attract users, but also attract a variety of DApps to join to form its own ecosystem. To this end, Blast has developed some strategies to attract developers. First of all, they place great emphasis on compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem, which means that any DApp developer based on Ethereum can migrate to Blast relatively easily.

In addition, Blast once again emphasized their "distribution of wealth" advantage. In DApps deployed on Blast, developers can monetize deposits through simple configuration just like users. More importantly, Blast will return Gas fee income to developers, and developers can choose to retain this income or use it to subsidize Gas fees for users. In Blast’s airdrop plan, 50% of the airdrop quota is reserved for developers, and it will be launched together with the Blast test network in January next year.

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 provide

Bringing more innovation and progress across the blockchain space.

Blast Points

Blast opened early access at launch and provided invitation code users with the opportunity to participate, and they will also receive Blast Points as rewards. Participating users can earn more points by increasing the number of bridges and inviting more users. However, it should be noted that currently deposited funds cannot be withdrawn until the mainnet goes online in February next year.

In addition, another keyword appears - "Blast Points". Since Blast’s revenue method is simple and transparent, why don’t users directly go to Lido and MakerDAO to stake? This is the key to Blast Points. Users can not only enjoy the established staking benefits, but also receive benefits from the airdrop bonus represented by Blast Points. According to the data at the time of writing this article, the number one user on the Blast website’s points rankings is named "SQUAD-5QM96", whose points have reached 43,781, and there are 330 users with more than 2,000 points.

Before the launch of the mainnet in February next year, the annual interest rate (APR) for participating users' deposited assets will be 4% for ETH and 5% for stablecoins. It has not yet been revealed whether Blast adopts a fixed interest rate or a floating interest rate, and whether this rate of return will continue after the mainnet is opened. However, it should be noted that the current APR on Lido is only 3.7%.

Through the early access to Blast, users can not only obtain stable annual interest rate income, but also obtain additional income through Blast Points point incentives. Blast attracts users in this innovative way, allowing them to participate in the Blast ecosystem, while also bringing more innovation and opportunities to the entire blockchain field. I believe that with the development of Blast, more users will join and jointly build a prosperous ecosystem.