After raising $20 million from investors like Paradigm and Standard Crypto, Blast just ended its Early Access Period and went live on mainnet!

Here's a rundown of what we know about the network and its differentiating features 🧵

Research /messari • Crypto explainor 🧵 • Chicagoan nomading Latam 🌎

Blast is a Layer-2 scaling network for Ethereum. It is a fork of Optimism that operates under the same Optimistic Rollup model. 

However, details about what entity operates Blast's sequencer or if fraud proofs are in development have not been announced.

Blast's novel features include:

• Native ETH Yield: Users bridging ETH, WETH, or stETH receive rebasing staked ETH on Blast.

• Native Stablecoin Yield: Users bridging stablecoins (USDC, USDT, and DAI) receive USDB, a rebasing stablecoin.

Yield is advertised to be 4% and 5%.

How is this native yield earned? 

• The underlying ether is staked through Lido on Ethereum.

• The underlying stablecoins are used in real-world asset (RWA) protocols like Maker.

Today, Blast does not have a token. However, the project team has communicated that Blast Points/Gold will become redeemable for a “Blast Community Airdrop” in May 2024.

Still, details related to a potential Blast-related token and any associated uses have not been announced.

Another novel feature is transaction fee revenue sharing:

• Gas fees generated by smart contracts accrue to those smart contracts or their creators. 

• Whenever fees accrue, 50% can be claimed, with the remainder going to the sequencer. Once 30 days lapse, 100% is claimable.

“Technical engineers” are said to control a 3-of-5 multi-sig that can upgrade Blast smart contracts and held assets bridged to Blast during its Early Access period.

No plans have been announced to decentralize this multi-sig or transition upgrade keys to a governance system.

While Blast has not launched a token, we made sure that a Messari Diligence Report on Blast is live on the day of mainnet launch!

Enterprise subscribers wanting to get the most detailed information about Blast can reach out below.

While Blast has not launched a token, we made sure that a Messari Diligence Report on Blast is live on the day of mainnet launch!

Enterprise subscribers wanting to get the most detailed information about Blast can reach out below.

https://messari.io/project/blast-2/diligence-report

Lido and Maker are the only two protocols being used upon mainnet launch. 

However, Blast has stated that in the future, “the Blast community will have the power to supplement, or even fully replace, Lido or MakerDAO with Blast-native solutions or other third-party protocols.”