Blast L2 crosses $720m in TVL ahead of promised mainnet

A layer-2 network launched by Pacman, creator of NFT marketplace Blur, continues to attract deposits while working on its mainnet.

The total value locked (TVL) for decentralized L2 blockchain Blast surpassed $720 million, according to data from DefiLlama seen on Dec. 4. The climb to this level represents a $120 million increase in deposits since crypto.news last reported on Blast’s TVL

Tieshun Roquerre, Blur’s co-founder, better known as Pacman, launched Blast in November 2023 as a native yield chain with an attached token airdrop. The project did not have a mainnet at inception. Instead, Pacman and his team released a multi-sig smart contract for early users to pre-fund their accounts while earning interest on their crypto deposits

Less than a month after its launch, Blast is now the third largest holder of staked Ether (stETH), according to 21Shares researcher Tom Wan, citing Dune analytics data. The protocol’s multi-sig holds over $640 million in stETH as inflows poured in.

Not having a mainnet and utilizing a multi-sig drew scrutiny from industry participants, including Paradigm, Blast’s main institutional backer. The investment firm said Blast set a negative precedent due to its launch scheme.

Blast maintained its position on the chosen model, stressing that security is rarely guaranteed. Pacman also released a thread on X, pointing to similar yield styles used by major protocols like Lido Finance and MakerDAO.

The L2 network is expected to launch its completed platform by February 2024, and was recruiting at press time as part of its plan to deliver on promises. Senior DevOps Engineer and Senior Protocol Engineer are the two roles Blast is interested in hiring.