Investors bridged more than $30 million worth of ether and stablecoins to Blast, the latest Ethereum Layer 2 network, just hours after the project went live late Monday.
The influx is evidence of strong demand for Layer 2 networks or protocols that operate on top of a Layer 1 blockchain, such as Ethereum, to reduce speed, cost and scalability bottlenecks. Bridges are blockchain-based tools that allow users to transfer tokens between different networks.
The charm is also determined by Blast’s unique design: savers earn returns on the transferred ether in addition to BLAST points.
“Blast naturally participates in ETH staking, and stake returns are returned to L2 users and dapps,” the team said in a post on Tuesday. “We redesigned the L2 from the ground up so that if you have 1 ETH in your wallet on Blast, it will automatically grow to 1.04, 1.08, 1.12 ETH over time.”
Users will have to wait until the mainnet launch in February before they can withdraw funds from the network or participate in on-chain activities. As such, starting Tuesday, Blast will be available by invitation only, requiring a code from invited users to gain access. In addition, BLAST points can be redeemed from May.
Data shows that of the total bridged amount, more than $19 million worth of ether has been deployed on Lido, where it is expected to return as much as 4% annually. Another $3 million sits on Maker, while a smaller tranche of $150,000 worth of dai (DAI) stablecoins sits idle in the wallet.
Users who bridge stablecoins will receive Blast’s auto-rebasing stablecoin, USDB. The revenue for USDB comes from MakerDAO’s on-chain T-Bill protocol.
Blast has raised more than $20 million in a round led by Paradigm and Standard Crypto and is led by pseudonymous figurehead @PacmanBlur, one of the co-founders of NFT marketplace Blur.
@PacmanBlur said in a separate post that Blast is an extension of the Blur ecosystem, allowing Blur users to earn revenue from inactive assets while improving the technical aspects needed to offer cutting-edge NFT products to users.
BLUR prices have increased by 12% in the last 24 hours following the release of Blast.
