Blast TVL Hits $2B Ahead of Mainnet Launch on Feb 29

Risk on Blast Controversy: Rug Pull Raises $1.35M in ETH

On February 26, the Blast protocol once more sparked controversy when critics claimed that a gambling protocol named ‘Risk on Blast’ had executed a rug pull.The GambleFi project successfully raised 420 Ether (ETH), or $1.35 million at today’s exchange rates, for the RISK presale token, which ran from February 22 to the next day.

Since then, the group has deleted its associated social media profiles and transferred portions of the algorithmic stablecoin Dai (DAI) to the noncustodial cryptocurrency market ChangeNOW.

The Blast protocol, which was introduced in the middle of November, is a scalability solution for the Ethereum network. Users that stake their funds on the protocol are eligible for native rewards in Ether (ETH) and stablecoins.

Notably, Tieshun Roquerre, the creator of Blast and creator of the NFT platform Blur, goes by the moniker “PacMan.”

Roquerre defended Blast against accusations of “too good to be true” yields in a post on November 23 on X, asserting that MakerDAO and Lido were responsible for Blast’s yield.

1/ There's a meme going around that Blast is a ponzi. The yield that Blast provides users can feel too good to be true, so this meme is understandable. But to put it simply, the yield Blast provides comes (initially) from Lido and MakerDAO.

Lido yield comes from ETH staking…

— Pacman | Blur + Blast (@PacmanBlur) November 24, 2023

Days before debut, Blast closed a $20 million seed financing backed by Standard Crypto and Paradigm.

What is a layer 2, and how do rollups work?

A layer 2 runs on top of a base chain like Ethereum for cheap, fast transactions while inheriting its security. Rollups execute off-chain, then post compressed data back to Ethereum — optimistic ones use fraud proofs, zk ones use validity proofs.

#bridges#consensus#scaling