So, a new chain has emerged, and this time, it comes with backing from the big names including Paradigm and Standard Crypto. It’s called Blast, and they say, “Blast is the first L2 that incorporates native yield. Your balance on Blast compounds automatically.”
Blast yield comes from ETH staking and RWA protocols. The yield from these decentralized protocols is passed back to Blast users automatically. The default interest rate on other L2s is 0%. On Blast, it’s 4% for ETH and 5% for stablecoins.
Here’s how Blast works.
Auto Rebasing
Users transact in ETH. Dapps are built around ETH. Blast was designed from the ground up so that ETH itself is natively rebasing on the L2.
L1 Staking
Blast only became possible this year following Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade. ETH yield from L1 staking, initially Lido, is automatically transferred to users via rebasing ETH on the L2.
T-Bill Yield
Users who bridge stablecoins receive USDB, Blast’s auto-rebasing stablecoin. The yield for USDB comes from MakerDAO’s on-chain T-Bill protocol. USDB can be redeemed for USDC when bridging back to Ethereum.
Blast contributors have raised $20m from Paradigm, Standard Crypto, eGirl Capital, Primitive Ventures, Andrew Kang, Hasu, Foobar, Blurr, Will Price, Hsaka, Santiago Santos, Larry Cermak, Manifold, Jeff Lo, and other crypto-natives.
A quick comparison done on the website of Blast shows that it is better than Optimism and Arbitrum in terms of giving native yields, and it shares all the gas revenues with the developers on the chain, and there are substantial incentives to devs compared to what the devs on the other two chains get.
Right now, users can bridge their funds to Blast, get an early entry into the Airdrop leaderboard, and invite friends to make a team that deposits at least 5 ETH in total, so that they qualify for the squad reward where the entire squad is rewarded with points. The Blast Community Airdrop is split between Early Access Members (50%) and Developers (50%). The ETH that you deposit right now is available for withdrawal in February 2024 when Blast Mainnet gets launched, and the actual distribution of Blast airdrop is going to happen in May 2024.
If you need invite codes for Blast, you can tweet reply to me @thecaptaingates and I will try to share a few as and when I get them from the squad. Make sure you RT the post that mentions Blast.
