Blast: A Pioneer in Creating Layer2 Yield Narratives

On the evening of June 26, Blast airdropped tokens to the community, marking the end of a large-scale airdrop campaign. From the perspective of investment institutions, community enthusiasm, and locked positions, Blast is undoubtedly the only top project this year that can stand shoulder to shoulder with ZKsync. As Layer 2 enters a new phase, the future development of Blast and the entire Layer 2 ecosystem is attracting attention.

1. Project Background

Environment-driven innovation

In traditional Layer 2 ecosystems, users earn ecological tokens as returns by staking. Layer 2 projects utilize staked funds for transaction validation and provide token incentives for users to participate in network maintenance. Due to Layer 2 bearing dual system risks, it typically requires offering staking rates higher than Layer 1. To further enhance Layer 2 capital returns, Blast has emerged.

Basic Information

Blast is an Ethereum Layer 2 network based on Optimistic Rollups, launched by PacMan, the founder of Blur. Unlike other Layer 2 solutions that focus on scalability and lowering fees, Blast aims to improve the shortcomings of Layer 1 and provide greater economic benefits. It is the first Layer 2 to offer fixed income from staking ETH and stablecoins, redirecting Layer 2 development from technical attributes back to the financial attributes of Web3.

Development History

• November 2023: Project launch, secured $20 million in seed round funding
• November 2023: Announce a unique yield model, offering 4% ETH and 5% stablecoin yield.
• February 2024: Mainnet launch
• May 2024: Airdrop plan postponed to June 26, increased allocation.
• June 26, 2024: Official airdrop release

market growth

Blast has gained market popularity, with a locked value of 1.6 billion USD, making it the 6th in TVL ranking and the 11th in Protocols ranking among blockchains, accounting for 1.71% of all locked assets on-chain.

2. Token Economics

Token Function

$Blast token has basic functions such as ecological governance, airdrop incentives, and staking rewards. The Blast ecosystem is relatively complete in terms of governance, reflecting the comprehensiveness of its ecological construction.

Token Allocation

Total supply of 10 billion pieces, distributed as follows:

• Community: 50%, linear unlocking over 3 years
• Core Contributors: 25.5%, 25% unlocked after one year, 75% unlocked linearly over the next 3 years
• Investors: 16.5%, 25% unlocked after one year, 75% unlocked linearly over the next three years.
• Blast Foundation: 8%, linear unlocking over 4 years

Phase One Airdrop

• Blast Points holders share 7% of the total supply
• Blast Goal holders will share 7% of the total supply.
• The Blur Foundation receives 3% of the total supply for distribution to the Blur community.

The airdrop for the top 0.1% wallets will be released linearly over 6 months to alleviate initial selling pressure. The number of Blast Goals is limited, and holding yields are higher than Blast Points.

3. Narrative Characteristics

Perfect compatibility with EVM

Blast implements EVM perfect compatibility through the free choice of "whether to Auto-Rebasing", reducing migration costs and accelerating ecosystem construction.

A perfect solution for multiple fish consumption.

Blast achieves native returns on ETH and stablecoins through Auto-Rebasing. Users can directly obtain staking rewards without using intermediary tokens like WETH or STETH, avoiding high gas fees. Blast automatically stakes locked funds on DeFi platforms such as Lido and MakerDAO, enabling compound interest operations.

4. Ecological Construction

The Blast ecosystem covers multiple tracks including SocialFi, GameFi, DeFi, and NFT, forming a diversified ecosystem.

DEX leader Thruster

Thruster is a yield-focused DEX with a TVL of $438 million. Features include:

• Inherit the AMM model to provide liquidity and earn fees.
• Simple and complex mode UI design
• Utilize Blast chain for automated staking rewards
• Design a lossless lottery Thruster Treasure pool to attract users

Leverage Lending Leader Juice Finance

Juice Finance is the largest leveraged lending platform on the Blast chain, with a TVL of $394 million. Main functions:

• Margin Lending: Up to 3x leverage
• Yield Farm: Multiple Strategy Vaults
• Permissionless lending and cross-margining features

The capital effect enhances the platform Zest

Zest leverages the native ETH yield of the Blast chain to enhance capital efficiency, offering a solution with higher returns and lower risks.

SocialFi leader Fantasy

Fantasy is a social financial trading card game that combines elements of SocialFi and GameFi. Features include:

• Card system based on the Crypto Twitter community
• Earn 1.5% ETH from passive card trading volume
• Weekly ranking competition rewards

The total trading volume of NFTs reached 93.11 million USD, with 36,700 participants, becoming the 5th ranked SocialFi on the Blast chain.

5. Future Development and Risk Opinions

Future Development Trends

• Blast may become a symbolic project, like Uniswap.
• The high yield characteristics will continue to attract funds.
• Provide fertile ground for DeFi development

Risk Analysis of Concealment

• Technical Aspect: Auto-Rebasing Optimizes Capital Efficiency
• Risk Level: Increase the systemic risk of the entire chain funding system
• Hierarchy of permissions: may affect users' rights to manage funds

Overall, the Blast high-yield system comes with increased systemic risks, but it remains attractive to small capital users. Its yield characteristics may be adopted by other Layer 2 solutions and are worth ongoing attention.