Is Blast Still "Exploding" After the Large Airdrop?
Blast currently ranks as the 7th largest blockchain network by Total Value Locked (TVL), with nearly $1.5 billion USD in assets pouring in.
Since its mainnet launch, Blast's performance metrics have consistently shown positive results. In mid-June, Blast even surpassed OP Mainnet in transaction volume and active wallet addresses. Although still trailing behind Arbitrum One and Base, both metrics have seen steady growth since Blast's mainnet debut.
Backed by support from prominent names in the industry, Blast has risen to become the 7th largest network by Total Value Locked (TVL), with nearly $1.4 billion USD in current assets. Blast retains users with attractive yield rates, a factor overlooked by many competitors.
TVL data for Blast as of July 5th, 2024. Source: DefiLlama
Blast ranks 7th in TVL. Source: DefiLlama
Another significant factor contributing to Blast's success is its airdrop strategy. However, this wasn't entirely unexpected, as the protocol introduced the "Blast Points" rewards model from its early days. As planned, Blast allocated 50% of its total supply of 100 billion tokens to the community, distributed sporadically over the next 3 years.
The first airdrop of 17% of the total supply took place on June 26th. Just two days ago, Blast commenced its second airdrop with a distribution of up to 10 billion tokens.
Will these impressive achievements continue after Blast distributed 17 billion tokens? The answer appears to be yes!
Overall, there hasn't been a significant spike in wallet addresses or transactions on the network post the June 26th airdrop. Average transactions over 7 days decreased from over 1 million on June 23rd to 798,000 on June 30th, though this figure remains relatively high. Active wallet addresses also saw a slight decline, with 134,000 addresses interacting with Blast daily.
7-day average transaction volume on Blast. Source: The Block
The BLAST token also experienced typical sell-offs from airdrop recipients. On its initial trading day, BLAST's market capitalization quickly reached $493 million USD but dropped to $367 million USD at the time of reporting.
BLAST price fluctuations over the daily timeframe, screenshot from CoinMarketCap at 12:35 AM on July 5th, 2024
In conclusion, Blast has maintained its position, unlike many platforms that often face declines post-snapshot announcements. The most evident example is ZKsync, where the second airdrop "sank" the FDV project by 40%.
