"Blast earns revenue by converting user deposits, and there is a risk of dependence on MakerDAO and LidoFinance. From a short-term hype perspective, this sounds more capital efficient, but in the long run this type of direction that leads to centralization should not be Ethereum mainstream."
Written by: dt X DeFi_Cheetah
Editor: Lisa
The most eye-catching project in the Ethereum ecosystem recently is definitely Blast. With the release of the second phase of Blur airdrop rewards, the introduction of the L2 public chain Blast, also developed by the Blur team, has only been announced for nine days. Blast TVL It has exceeded 600M US dollars, which is close to the TVL of Solana’s entire chain (662M).
What’s so magical about Blast? This week’s CryptoSnap Dr.DODO will introduce you to the Blast L2 public chain!
Special thanks to: DeFi Cheetah for authorizing compilation of their views. Read to the end of the article to see Cheetah's wonderful perspective.
Source: https://defillama.com/protocol/blast
Introduction to Blast
Blast’s goal is to create the only L2 public chain with native income from Ethereum and stablecoins. However, the white paper and technical details have not been released yet, but users have been allowed to deposit funds into its mainnet contract and start earning LSD & RWA income and start the points activity at the same time.
Blast's ability to obtain such a high locked-up volume in a short period of time is all due to its strong team and investor background. The Blur team was led by Pacman, the founder of Blur, and received support from the famous VC Paradigm, eGirls Capital and the famous CT DegenSpartan. , Andrew Kang and others invested, which is impeccable in terms of background.
Blast Token Airdrop
In addition to the strong team background and strength, airdrop expectations are another key point for its rapid TVL growth. Blast started an airdrop point activity before its L2 mainnet was even online. It reminds people of the same team's Blur who once issued Ethereum's history. The fifth largest airdrop is also an early point activity in exchange for airdrops, which has made many people rich.
In addition to being related to the size of the deposited funds, the Blast airdrop rules also incorporate an invitation system. The funds deposited by the invitee will affect the points of the original inviter. The more people invited, the greater the funds invited. You can get higher airdrop points, and whether you have used Blur is another factor in calculating points. Addresses that have received higher Blur points will be able to get higher Blast airdrop points, thereby rewarding early users who support the team. In addition, It is important to note that Blast currently does not have an exit mechanism. According to the current roadmap, deposited funds cannot be withdrawn until the mainnet goes online on February 24, 2024, and airdrop points will be redeemed on May 24. , which means that there will be a lock-up period of up to three months and the token airdrop will be issued six months later.
Blast controversy
The Blast trend swept the entire crypto, and Twitter was suddenly full of discussions about Blast. At the same time, some people believed that although Blast was called the L2 public chain, it was actually just a deposit contract, and it was just another person to help you transfer your money. Depositing into Lido / MakerDAO cannot be called L2 at all, and it raises questions about the Blast 600M funds. The funds are only managed through multi-signature. The contract allows upgrades and has no time lock mechanism. This will be a major concern for the Blast team in terms of security. In response, L2 such as Arbitrum, Optimism & Polygon also use the multi-signature model, and their multi-signature custodians are all senior engineers with experience in the development of high-risk applications such as financial applications and smart contracts. They have promised to update multi-signature in the next week. Hardware wallet.
In addition, members of the Paradigm team, who are important investors, also wrote that they do not agree with Blast’s move to allow users to deposit before launching the mainnet and cannot withdraw money within three months, and believe that its invitation link marketing activities will reduce Regarding the work efficiency of the team, Paradigm believes that Blast will set a bad precedent for other projects. However, despite the conflict of ideas, it chose not to interfere with the operations of founder Pacman and will continue to support Pacman and his team, saying that they are world-class developers can bring value to the industry.
Blast's deposit of funds into LIDO/MakerDAO has also caused a lot of discussion. Lido has been criticized by the community for its excessive scale, which has led to Ethereum being too centralized. Blast wants to deposit a large amount of its TVL into Lido. This move only It will make Ethereum more centralized, and the security risk of Lido will become an unexploded bomb in the Defi world and even the entire crypto. Similarly, depositing large amounts of stable currency funds into MakerDAO will cause the entire Defi world to rely on top applications. If the risk is too high, the overall market's ability to resist risks will be lower.
Author's opinion
@DeFi_Cheetah
I've been reading tweets that are optimistic about Blast, which seems to me to be fine as a speculative play, but it's not a priority investment for me. Because I think Blast earns income by converting user deposits, there is a risk of dependence on MakerDAO and LidoFinance. From a short-term hype perspective, this sounds more capital efficient, but in the long run this kind of direction that leads to centralization is not It should be the mainstream of Ethereum and should encourage the development of decentralized LSDs such as fraxfinance$frxETHv2 and RocketPool.
At the same time, with the convergence of L2 public chains, especially after EIP-4844 reduces costs, economies of scale will become more obvious. The larger the scale, the more likely it will be able to occupy a leading position. Therefore, it is not believed that the native income will gain much Attractiveness, Arbitrum and Optimism, which are currently dominant, will be able to follow up easily. Of course, the information disclosed by Blast is currently limited. If there is more information, I will conduct further research.
@19971122 DT
In the author’s opinion, Paradigm has always been one of the VCs that understands the crypto best. The products it launches may not always be particularly innovative in terms of technology, but they can always arouse market reactions in terms of token mechanisms. I still remember a few FriendTech, a Social Fi product that exploded a few months ago, was only used by the most degenous group of players at the beginning of the project. However, as Paradigm announced its investment and brought a points mechanism, it completely aroused the market's FOMO mood, and various point-based tutorials were everywhere.
Blast is also similar. Gnosis Chain or Canto, public chains with native income from Ethereum and stablecoins, are both in progress, and their concepts are not particularly innovative. What really arouses market sentiment is the Lu Points thing. , Blast directly tells you what all L2 public chains that have not yet issued coins dare to say but do silently, and tell everyone clearly that I want you to provide TVL. How many TVL can be exchanged for how many points are clearly told to you.
I don’t know whether Blast will be successful after it launches the currency, but I can guarantee that Blast will be very successful before the currency is issued, because almost no one will give up this opportunity to get Free Money. Of course, moderate participation is very important. , in the crypto where days are like years, there will be many possibilities that will happen during the three-month lock-up period, so do not place too many positions.
