"""

Blast starts shutdown process

Pressure on crypto revenue models has led Blast to decide to shut down. The team behind the Ethereum layer-2 network said the chain's revenue no longer covers operating expenses, announced that it will wind down the network and asked users to move their assets to the Ethereum mainnet.

In a statement posted on X, the team said it could not see a credible path for making the network economically sustainable. As part of the process, the withdrawal delay will be reduced to 24 hours. However, withdrawals will be temporarily paused while Blast completes the process of unwinding its Lido assets, which is expected to take about one week.

Key dates for users

The deadline for users who want to withdraw through the Blast interface has been set for October 26. After that date, assets will remain accessible, but withdrawals will have to be made directly through Blast's bridge contracts on Ethereum.

  • Until October 26, users will be able to complete withdrawals through the Blast interface.
  • After that, withdrawals will require direct interaction with the bridge contracts on Ethereum.
  • The team said it will publish separate instructions for that method before the deadline.

Numbers show the network's decline

Blast was launched in November 2023 with native yields for Ether and stablecoins, along with a points program tied to an anticipated token airdrop. That strategy helped attract more than $2 billion in deposits before the mainnet opened in February 2024.

The growth did not last. According to DeFiLlama data, the total value locked in Blast's DeFi ecosystem has fallen by more than 98% from a peak of about $2.2 billion in June 2024. The drop points to a sharp erosion of liquidity on the network.

Weakness in the NFT market also played a role

Blast founder Tieshun Pacman Roquerre is also the founder of NFT marketplace Blur. Data cited in the report showed a similar contraction on Blur, where total value locked fell from more than $200 million at the start of 2024 to about $27 million.

This picture shows that the broader weakness in the NFT market has affected not only trading volumes, but also the infrastructure projects built around that ecosystem. With Blast set to shut down, assets on the network are expected to move back to the Ethereum mainnet, highlighting how revenue-versus-cost balance on layer-2 projects has once again become a major issue for investors.

"""