What is Blast crypto and how does the Blast L2 work?

Blast crypto refers to Blast, an Ethereum layer 2 network, and to its BLAST token. Its pitch is that ETH and stablecoins sitting on Blast earn yield automatically, without the user staking or lending them. Blast was created by the team behind Blur, an NFT marketplace.

What is Blast cryptocurrency and how does native yield work?

Blast is an optimistic rollup that is compatible with Ethereum's smart contracts. Transactions are assumed valid unless someone challenges them during a dispute period.

The yield comes from two places. ETH bridged to Blast is staked on Ethereum, initially through Lido, and the staking rewards are passed back to users. ETH balances on Blast rebase, meaning they grow automatically for ordinary wallets, while smart contracts can opt in. Stablecoins bridged to Blast become USDB, Blast's own rebasing stablecoin. Its yield comes from MakerDAO's on-chain Treasury bill product. At launch Blast advertised default rates of about 4% for ETH and 5% for stablecoins, but these rates depend on outside markets and are not fixed.

For background on where staking rewards come from, see what Ethereum staking is.

How did the Blast L2 network launch?

Blast opened in early access in November 2023 after raising about $20 million from investors including Paradigm and Standard Crypto. Users could deposit funds but could not withdraw until mainnet. At that stage the bridge was a multisig wallet controlled by five people, and a referral points system drew criticism, with some comparing it to a pyramid scheme.

Even so, more than $2 billion was deposited before mainnet went live on February 29, 2024.

How does the Blast L2 bridge work?

The Blast bridge is the contract that moves assets between Ethereum and Blast. According to Coin Bureau, it accepts ETH, WETH, stETH, DAI, USDT and USDC. Stablecoins arrive as USDB, and USDB is redeemed for DAI when bridged back to Ethereum. Before bridging, check the current withdrawal timing in Blast's own interface, since optimistic rollups rely on a dispute period before results are treated as final.

What is the Blast token?

BLAST is an ERC-20 token with a total supply of 100 billion. It launched on June 26, 2024, with 17 billion tokens, about 7% of supply, airdropped mostly to users based on the Blast Points they had earned. The allocation set 50% for community programs, 25.5% for core contributors, 16.5% for investors and 8% for the Blast Foundation.

As of October 2026, some data services have scaled back coverage. Dune, for example, stopped indexing new Blast data in September 2025, so check current activity before relying on older statistics.