BLAST Ethereum Layer 2 Chain to Shut Down Due to Financial Losses
The Ethereum layer 2 chain BLAST is shutting down, citing that running the chain costs more than it earns. The shutdown notice was made on October 2, 2026, with a 26 October 2026 deadline for users to withdraw their funds through the normal interface. BLAST's team stated that there is no credible path to making the chain profitable. Users have until 26 October to withdraw their funds, but after that, they can only recover their funds by calling BLAST's bridge contracts on Ethereum directly.
BLAST's tokenomics page shows that the total supply is 100 billion BLAST, with half going to the community over three years from the 26 June 2024 TGE. The Blast Foundation's 8% vests over four years, and core contributors hold 25.48%. The token's worst day landed on October 2, 2026, with a 40.5% drop in price on CoinGecko.
The BLAST token is the governance token of the chain and has a total supply of 100 billion. The token's owner is a MintManager contract, which has never minted, and the code checks the cap only when that field is above 0. The token has no pause or blacklist function, so no one can freeze a balance.