Blast: How to Make Money with the New Layer 2?
Blast is the upcoming Ethereum L2 solution, focusing on liquid staking of ETH and farming various DeFi assets.
Pacman, the CEO and creator of the NFT marketplace Blur, is the driving force behind the Blast project. In 2023, this trading platform launched 2 BLUR airdrops, yielding earnings between $500 to $10,000 per account based on trading volume.
It's also announced that Blast blockchain will not only have its native token but will also conduct a retroactive airdrop for its early users in the future. Let's delve into how to farm points on Blast, the potential earnings, and discuss the project's future prospects and risks.
About Blast
Blast has secured investment from renowned funds including Paradigm, Standard Crypto, Andrew Kang, Girl Capital, and other respected companies. As per the official release, Blast has successfully secured over $20 million in funding.
Tweet about investments in Blast. Source: https://twitter.com/Blast_L2
Blast is tailored for users who aim to maximize income from staking or farming tokens. This is facilitated through investments in various platforms like Lido, Rocket Pool, and MakerDAO liquidity pools, and also employs RWA (Real World Assets) protocols.
The project has officially announced the airdrop of Blast's future token. We'll explore specifically what needs to be done to accumulate points and receive rewards from Blast.
How to Start Farming Points on Blast?
To accrue points, the main activity involves farming cryptocurrencies like ETH, stablecoins, or BLUR, the native token of Blast. Here’s how to get involved in the Blast Airdrop:
- Visit the website and sign up. This involves entering an Invite code and linking your wallet, Discord, and Twitter accounts. You can find an Invite code in the comments under Blast's X account, where users leave their codes. Your personal code becomes available once you have a certain amount of funds and points in your account.
- Next, deposit funds into your Blast account from your wallet. To do this, go to the "Airdrop" section, click "Deposit," and select the asset you wish to invest in. Currently available assets include USDT, USDC, ETH, LDO, WETH, and DAI. Staking BLUR on the specified website can yield additional points.
- Following these steps, you can invite other users, enhancing your points through the referral program.
Blast Deposit Page. Source: blast.io
The Blast Airdrop is slated for May 2024, but you’ll only be able to withdraw funds in February of the following year. This investment opportunity is especially appealing to ETH holders who are looking for a 5% annual return from farming (the present rate on Blast) and a bonus from the upcoming token airdrop.
How Much is Currently Staked in Blast?
The Blast smart contract, where the invested assets are locked, is publicly identified by the key 0x5f6ae08b8aeb7078cf2f96afb089d7c9f51da47d. At the time of writing this article, users have contributed a total of $80 million to Blast, broken down as follows:
- Around $66 million is currently locked in Ethereum on Lido;
- Approximately $13.7 million is held in the DAI stablecoin on the Maker platform;
- An additional $700,000 is yet to be allocated and remains in wallets.
Blast Bridge Official Smart Contract. Source: debank.com
Users can monitor the real-time movement of funds to keep an eye on the project’s development and adjust their strategies accordingly in case of unexpected situations.
Prospects and Challenges of the Blast Project
Blast, initiated by the Blur marketplace team, has successfully carried out two seasons of Airdrops. A unique aspect of the Blur drop was its advanced notification about upcoming rewards, with the size of the reward solely dependent on the users' activity and trading volume on the platform.
Blast follows a similar approach, presenting good potential for engagement with the project. Key benefits of investing in Blast include:
- Officially announced airdrop;
- Reduced risk through investments solely in stablecoins, protecting assets from market downturns while still accruing points;
- A 5% annual yield, independent of the airdrop;
- High popularity due to a proven team and strong investor involvement;
- Enhanced point accumulation through a referral program and a spinning wheel feature, allowing users to earn additional points periodically based on their investment size.
Conversely, Blast presents some significant drawbacks that warrant attention:
- Difficulty in obtaining Invite Codes due to high demand. Waiting a few days for supply to exceed demand is advisable. Otherwise, quick action is required to use these codes before someone else does, as each code is valid for a single activation only;
- Inability to quickly withdraw funds, meaning your assets are locked without access for over three months;
- A high entry threshold, as investments under $1000 in Blast restrict roulette spins to once every 20 weeks, limiting significant point gains;
- Bloggers and influencers potentially earning more due to the referral program, compared to regular users without an audience or referrals;
- Incomplete project documentation, lack of information on tokenomics, and an unknown full network launch date;
- The intermediary role of Blast in liquid staking, which can be bypassed by directly staking assets through services like Lido, Frax, Rocket Pool, etc. Hence, if Blast is hacked or revealed as a scam, all user funds are at risk.
Final Words
Blast appears to be an intriguing option for both ETH holders and those looking to engage in high-yield farming of stablecoins. There's a lack of detailed information about upcoming rewards, but many users are drawing parallels with the amounts distributed by the Blur marketplace during its retroactive airdrop.
The first season of the Blur Airdrop occurred on February 14, 2023, where 360 million BLUR tokens were distributed, totaling about $200 million at the time. However, it might not be entirely appropriate to rely on this figure for Blast, as the projects differ significantly, especially in terms of market conditions at the time of token release and the variety of available activities.
When considering an investment in Blast, it's important to weigh all its disadvantages and apply sound risk management to effectively handle your investments.
