Blast is a new project, it is a layer 2 project for Ethereum. It has garnered a lot of attention and hype. For good reason? Let’s find out and get you up-to-date on the project.
Like mentioned earlier “Blast” is a layer 2 project. A layer 2 project has for purpose to make the layer 1 project it is built upon (in this case Ethereum) fast and cheaper. It can process more transactions faster and do so against lower gas fees. There are several reasons it has gained a lot of hype, we will name them below.
The funding and who is behind it:
Blast had a funding round in which more than 20 million was funded, a pretty big amount. It is backed by Paradigm, one of the largest funds. The team behind it already has a successful project, namely “Blur”, the NFT marketplace, which held a large airdrop. Within a short time Blur rose to the nr.1 position of NFT markets. So a large backer and a large team. Is that the reason for hype, could be. It is not the reason for critisism though. We will go into that now.
Bridging funds and airdrop.
Since Blur had a very big airdrop, it is possible Blast will have a airdrop as well, not possible, it will have an airdrop, they state so themselves. They have a section for this on the website. In order to be a part of this you need to bridge funds over to their network. All good so far.
In order to get access to their website and your account, you need an invite code. These invite codes work as a referral system.
Furthermore you need to connect your Twitter and Discord account and a wallet.
Once you are in, you can bridge funds over. The system is pretty unfair, as the more you bridge over, the more points you get for an airdrop. Basically, if you are not rich, too bad.
A nice addition though is that the people who used your codes get added to your squad, if the squad bridges enough, you get points. Of course Blast is the real beneficiary here, since they benefit from the bridged funds. Regardless, it is a nice touch and allows you to farm points together with others.
Should you want to join, we have some codes for you:
blast.io/65ED8
blast.io/K9YDU
blast.io/8M3BD
blast.io/PEM2J
blast.io/39QIM
blast.io/XO8KM
blast.io/MTPGZ
What the issue is though, is that you can’t bridge the funds back yet. Basically they are locked up, until they go live. The locked up amount is growing with a very fast pace. Right now the TVL is more than 600 million. What are they exactly doing with the funds? What you get in return is supposed to be yield. Some people have a a negative stance towards this though.
Example.
This has even gathered some critism from Paradigm.
“There are a lot of components of Blast that I’m excited about and would be interested in engaging with people on. That said, we at Paradigm think the announcement this week crossed lines in both messaging and execution. For example, we don’t agree with the decision to launch the bridge before the L2, or not to allow withdrawals for three months, since we think it sets a bad precedent for other projects. We also think much of the marketing cheapens the work of a serious team. We backed Pacman and his cofounder because they demonstrated an ability to build great products over many years, starting with Namebase, one of Paradigm’s first investments. Next, they worked on Blur, a cutting-edge pro NFT marketplace. I got to witness their exceptional technical talent firsthand when I collaborated with them on the design of a new NFT-collateralized lending protocol called Blend. When Pacman told us he had a vision for the L2 chain that he wanted to use to scale Blur and build on its success, we invested behind him again. We still think they are world-class builders who can deliver an L2 that brings value to the ecosystem. We’ve been discussing our concerns with the team and appreciate their willingness to engage with us, but there are still many points of disagreement. We invest in strong, independent founders who we don’t always agree with. But we understand that people may look to us to set an example on best practices in crypto. We don’t endorse these kinds of tactics and take our responsibility in the ecosystem seriously.”
Blast is a L2 project, with a large backing and known founders. The TVL is rising very fast, with a referral airdrop system. Right now, however, you can’t bridge the funds back yet.