Explosion propels Ethereum L2 mainnet into action, releasing $2.3B worth of staked cryptocurrency.

Ether (ETH) worth around $400 million has been withdrawn from the Ethereum layer-2 network Blast since its mainnet launch on February 29. This has unlocked approximately $2.3 billion in staked crypto that was previously locked on the network. Blast, a blockchain scaler, offers users up to 5% annual percentage yield on Ether and stablecoins held on the network. This yield is generated from staked ETH and United States Treasury Bills managed by MakerDAO, the creator of the stablecoin Dai (DAI). Before the mainnet launch, the crypto sent to the network was locked, preventing its 180,000 users from withdrawing their funds. Blast’s total value locked reached a high of $2.27 billion on February 29 but has since fallen to $1.87 billion after the launch, with nearly $400 million being withdrawn. The network had surpassed the $2 billion total value locked milestone for the first time on February 27. Airdrop hunters have been attracted to the blockchain in the hopes of receiving Blast tokens, which the team has announced will be distributed in May. However, the launch of Blast has not been without controversy. Dan Robinson, the research head at Paradigm, a seed investor in Blast, criticized the decision to launch the bridge before the L2 and the three-month withdrawal restriction, stating that it sets a bad precedent for other projects. Additionally, the network experienced its first alleged exit scam on February 26 when a gambling protocol called “Risk on Blast” disappeared with 420 ETH, equivalent to around $1.25 million at the time, which it had collected from users for its RISK presale token.