Blast Network, the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, has suffered a dramatic decline in both its total value locked (TVL) and daily active users, raising concerns about its future sustainability.
In recent months, Blast’s TVL has fallen by a staggering 62% from its all-time high. This sharp decline comes after a massive $300 million liquidity loss was reported in early August.
The network’s struggles have been further highlighted by a significant drop in daily active users. As of August 18, Blast’s daily active users had fallen to 27,800, the lowest number since the network began expanding in late February. This decline stands in stark contrast to rivals Base and Arbitrum, which have 740,000 and 360,000 daily active wallets, respectively.
The decline in user engagement came after a troubled June airdrop and was exacerbated by dissatisfaction among both users and project developers. Leading projects like Pacmoon, the largest memecoin on Blast’s layer-2 network, are looking for alternatives. Pacmoon’s Lamboland expressed disappointment in the X platform, criticizing Blast for neglecting the community and cultural aspects necessary for blockchain success. “Blast never paid attention to these elements and created a system that minted native tokens while not actually offering any social support,” they said.
Additionally, the network has faced criticism for its launch strategy, particularly the bridge feature that left users unable to withdraw funds for an extended period of time.
*This is not investment advice.