Recently, the launch of the Blast token has caused quite a stir. The airdrop accounts for 17% of the total token supply, driving a 40% price surge, outperforming many other well-known airdrops. But can this initial hype be sustained?
The airdrop, coupled with the impressive growth of Blast in DeFi rankings (currently ranked sixth in DeFi TVL and fourth in Layer 2s), indicates the initial strong interest. The token made its debut yesterday at a price of $0.02, resulting in an initial valuation of $20 billion. According to CoinMarketCap, the price of BLAST has risen by about 40% to $0.029, currently corrected to $0.0258, an increase of 22.78% since its launch.
The airdrop itself has sparked some controversy. While the price has indeed risen, the initial valuation of $20 billion is lower than investors’ expectations. Arthur Cheong, co-founder of DeFiance Capital, expects the market cap to approach $50 billion.
“Wow, BLAST’s market cap is only $20 billion, considering the previous trading price at launch, I expected it to be at least $50 billion. The days of infrastructure projects being traded over $20 billion on launch may be over,” – Arthur (@Arthur_0x) June 26, 2024
The Blast, a second-layer network on Ethereum, aims to be a comprehensive blockchain network, offering a user-friendly experience beyond Metamask. It reportedly attracted a total of $23 billion in deposits from November to March. According to its second-quarter report of 2024, Blast’s total locked value exceeded $30 billion, with 1.5 million users and over 200 real-time dApps (decentralized applications). Blast also claims to have “higher revenue opportunities than any other chain store.”
However, Blast’s history is not without blemish. As early as November, even its seed investors criticized the network for lacking a one-way bridging mechanism. In addition, Blast’s airdrop has attracted a wave of scams, reflecting similar issues with other airdrops this year, such as Ethereum’s second-layer network zkSync (ZK) and cross-chain interoperability LayerZero (ZRO) – both of which have seen their prices drop by more than 40% since their launch.
“I got destroyed by the farming explosion. We won’t discuss specific numbers, but let’s assume I got a 5% return on the capital I put in. Whose fault is it? 100% mine. This is my self-analysis, hoping people can learn from my mistakes. So, who’s the biggest winner?” – Arthur (@Arthur_0x)