Blast, the Ethereum layer 2 that once held more than $2 billion in deposits, is shutting down with about $32 million left.
The team announced the wind-down on Friday. Its explanation was short: the chain was launched to be self-sustaining, and the economics of operating it no longer make sense. Costs exceed revenue, it said, with no credible path to changing that.
Users have until 26 October to withdraw through the normal interface. After that the assets are not lost, but getting them out means interacting directly with Blast’s bridge contracts on Ethereum, which is beyond most retail holders.
There is a pause first. Withdrawals stop for about a week while the team unwinds assets staked through Lido, then resume with a 24-hour delay.
Blast opened for deposits in November 2023, months before it had a working network, and its mainnet arrived in February 2024. It promised native yield on deposited ether and stablecoins and rewarded early users with points. The Block puts the early-access crowd at nearly 200,000. Paradigm and Standard Crypto led a $20 million funding round.
The BLAST token fell on the announcement. Reports of the size of the drop range from 17 percent to about 45 percent depending on when it was measured, and The Block put its market value at roughly $23 million afterwards.
The harder question is how many other chains are in the same position. Dozens of layer 2s were launched on the theory that incentives would attract users who would then stay. Blast is one of the most prominent to say publicly that the revenue never caught up with the bills.
It did not publish either number.
