Blast, the controversial Ethereum Layer 2 from the builders behind the main NFT market, Blur, has scheduled its mainnet launch for Feb. 29.

The date was introduced by way of  tweet on Feb. 26, near 4 months after Blast first started accepting deposits from customers. Blast provides native yields on ETH and stablecoin deposits by way of Lido’s liquid staking token, stETH, and MakerDAO. Depositors additionally earn Blast factors, that are anticipated to qualify holders for a future  airdrop.

The announcement got here the day after Blast’s complete worth locked (TVL) broke above  $2B amid sustained Ether  value features. At launch, Blast is poised to rank because the third-largest Layer 2, sitting behind OP Mainnet with $7.6B and above Manta Pacific with $1.9B, in keeping with L2beat. Blast  tweeted that it has obtained deposits from 157,638 wallets.

Blast controversy

Blast has persistently attracted criticism from the web3 group since bursting onto the scene in November.

The undertaking initially copped flak for utilizing airdrop incentives to lure deposits to a one-way  deposit contract providing no safety ensures past a three-of-five multisig pockets managed by pseudonymous builders earlier than publishing code or deploying its community. Critics additionally decried the undertaking’s use of referral codes, a typical characteristic amongst multi-level-marketing schemes.

Regardless of the issues, Blast attracted greater than $500M price of deposits in lower than one week. With nearly all of deposits comprising ETH, the undertaking contributed to a short-term uptick in stETH’s already  alarming dominance over the provision of staked Ether.

Blast lastly launched the code for its community in late January. The documentation ignited renewed criticism after sleuths accused the undertaking of  forking Optimism’s code with minimal modifications, altering the code’s license with out authorization, and with out giving credit score to its authentic creator.

Threat accused of first Blast ecosystem rug pull

On Feb. 25, Threat, a Blast-based playing protocol, appeared to rug-pull its buyers within the first exit rip-off inside the Blast ecosystem.

The undertaking, which was overseen by nameless builders, raised 420 ETH ($1.36M) from greater than 750 group members in a pre-sale seed spherical earlier than shutting down its web site and  social media accounts.  Knowledge from Arkham Intelligence signifies that RiskOnBlast’s wallets have been emptied. SomaXBT, a fraud-focused on-chain analyst,  flagged transactions displaying RoskOnBlast’s belongings transferring by way of centralized exchanges and coin mixing protocol.

Blast  promoted RiskOnBlast in a Feb. 13 tweet, describing the undertaking’s potential as “plain” amid their participation in its BIg Bang ecosystem competitors. Blast has not issued a press release acknowledging the undertaking for the reason that alleged exit rip-off.