The company Blast has announced plans to shut down its layer-2 network, giving users until 26 October 2026 to withdraw their funds through the standard interface.
In an October 2 post on X, Blast asked users to move their assets to the Ethereum mainnet, including any balances held in Blast PWA. According to the team's notice, withdrawals via the standard interface will remain available until October 26 following a temporary suspension needed to process operations with Lido.
For users who miss the deadline, the announcement states that assets will remain accessible through direct interaction with Blast's bridge contracts on Ethereum layer 1. The team said it will publish instructions for this process before the deadline expires.
Under the shutdown plan, the team will first begin withdrawing Lido funds held in Blast, a process expected to take approximately one week. During this period, the announcement says, user withdrawals will be temporarily unavailable.
In parallel, the team plans to reduce the withdrawal delay to 24 hours. However, according to the notice, the introduction of the shorter delay will not allow withdrawals while the Lido withdrawal process is still ongoing.
Once this process is complete, the team says withdrawals will resume with a new 24-hour waiting period. The request covers both assets held in the network and balances in Blast PWA, with the Ethereum mainnet specified as the destination.
The announcement distinguishes between the deadline for using the standard interface and the possibility of subsequently recovering assets. Under the team's stated arrangements, use of the standard interface will end on 26 October, and subsequent withdrawals will require users to interact directly with the Ethereum bridge contracts.
In the same notice, the team strongly urged users to complete their withdrawals before 26 October and committed to publishing detailed withdrawal instructions before that date.
Operating expenses exceeded Blast's revenue
Explaining its decision, the team said Blast was launched with the goal of creating a blockchain capable of sustaining itself financially while serving users and developers. According to the statement, the current costs of maintaining the network now exceed the revenue generated from operations at the Layer 2 level.
The team said it sees "no real path" to ensuring the network's economic sustainability.
"As a result, we made the difficult decision to shut down Blast".
Addressing the users and developers who built or supported the network, the statement said the team's priority is to ensure the smoothest and safest possible shutdown process.
Read also:
