Blast winds down two years after launching Ethereum L2

Blast is shutting down its Ethereum layer 2 after concluding that the cost of operating the network exceeds the revenue it generates.

The team said Friday that it no longer sees a credible path toward making Blast economically sustainable and will begin winding down the chain.

“We launched Blast with the goal of building a self-sustaining chain for users and developers,” the team said. “Unfortunately, the economics of operating the chain no longer make sense.”

Users are being asked to withdraw all assets from Blast to Ethereum mainnet, including balances held through the Blast progressive web app.

Blast plans to reduce its withdrawal delay to 24 hours as part of the process. Withdrawals will first be temporarily suspended while the network unwinds its Lido positions, a process expected to take about one week.

Once those assets have been withdrawn, regular withdrawals will resume with the shortened 24-hour delay.

Users will have until October 26 to withdraw through Blast’s normal interface. Assets will remain recoverable after that deadline, but holders will need to interact directly with Blast’s bridge contracts on Ethereum rather than using the standard interface.

The shutdown marks a sharp reversal for a network that attracted significant attention before its February 2024 mainnet launch.

Blast, founded by Blur creator Tieshun Roquerre, known as Pacman, introduced native yield for ether and stablecoins and attracted more than $2 billion in deposits before its mainnet was even live. The Block

Activity has fallen substantially since those early peaks. Blast currently has roughly $65 million in total value locked, while the BLAST token has a market capitalization of about $30 million and trades around 98% below its June 2024 all-time high, according to DefiLlama data. DefiLlama

Blast did not provide detailed revenue or operating-cost figures in its shutdown announcement.

The team apologized to users and developers that supported the ecosystem and said its priority is now ensuring assets can be safely moved back to Ethereum.