Blast incentives aim to attract strong devs, as value leaks

Monoswap, a small DEX on the Ethereum rollup Blast, announced today that it had been hacked under questionable circumstances. The team attributed the loss of funds from the DEX’s staked liquidity pools to a phishing attack that installed malware on a single developer’s computer.

The team urged users to withdraw any remaining funds and to avoid using the protocol while they work on deploying new smart contracts.

The security lapse decimated the exchange’s already paltry total value locked (TVL), which peaked at $2.8 million back in April.

As described, some have indicated that the attack seemed easily preventable. The Monoswap team will need to explain how its contracts were so fragile in the first place.

The alleged level of incompetence on display naturally has some suspecting an inside job, although there’s nothing clearly pointing to that conclusion for now.

Read more: Blast dapp hack was an inside job, and it could have been worse

Blast Phase 1 claims end

The past couple months have not been kind to Blast. Chain-wide TVL has halved, and activity is down about 35% from its June peak, indicating an exodus of capital and users lured by airdrop farming.

For the early users of the rollup, a fork of Optimism — “Phase 1” — concluded June 26 with a token airdrop, claimable for 30 days.

Read more: Blast launch leaves users confused about withdrawals

BLAST is down -25% this week and about -45% since launch, while bitcoin is up about 6% in the same period.

The project’s “Phase 2” guide, introduced on July 2 and detailing a 12-month rewards season, failed to halt the slide to its local bottom at about $0.013 on July 5.

According to the proposal, the next year of rewards are to be split equally between “Points” and “Gold,” with Points earned based on ETH, USDB — the yield-bearing stablecoin akin to sDAI — and BLAST balances. Using native yielding assets is a Blast specialty but the BLAST token lacks any — making it less attractive to hold.

Read more: To unseat Tether, upstart stablecoins are sharing the wealth

“Gold” refers to a type of reward given within the Blast network, used as an incentive mechanism primarily geared toward developers and early adopters of dapps on the rollup.

Among a raft of gimmicky incentive schemes, “Big Bang” competitions aim to incubate new dapps, which must distribute available Gold before receiving further allocations.

“Golden Tickets” — designed to encourage active participation and engagement with dapps — continue to offer users the chance to earn Points, Gold and Prizes. 

All told, the market expected more in the short-term from marketing maven Pacman, whose brainchild, after all, attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in deposits before building began in earnest.

Pacman was criticized for placing too much focus on measures to drive long-term value, and giving short shrift to the notion of DAO governance. 

Read more: Blast developers drawn by layer-2’s liquidity and founder’s success building Blur

In response, a Blast Improvement Proposal switched on double Points for BLAST holders. The token was also added as a collateral asset on Blast-based DEX Blitz on July 19.

The chain remains a leading optimistic rollup by TVL and activity, and recently added Across Protocol as a faster bridging option. It’s a bet on a mobile-centric layer-2 that appeals to the retail gambler set. The jury is out on whether that’s a formula for longevity.

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