Blast Shuts Down Its L2

Happy Friday, October 2, 2026.

Blast is winding down its Ethereum Layer 2. Linea Yield Boost rewards will dip during MetaMask validator exits. And Aave Labs proposes a foundation to hold protocol IP.

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Blast Shuts Down Its L2

Blast, an Ethereum Layer 2 featuring native yield, is shutting down its chain due to a lack of revenue. The team cited the ongoing costs of maintaining Blast, noting that the economics of operating the chain no longer make sense. Users on the chain are advised to withdrawal their funds before October 26, 2026. After the date, users will no longer be able to access the Blast interface.

The withdrawal delay on the optimistic rollup has also been reduced from 7 days to 24 hours to help speed up exits. Launched in February 2024, Blast was a Paradigm-backed L2 that allowed users to earn interest on ETH and stablecoin deposits by allocating funds to staking and yield protocols. Blast founder Tieshun "Pacman" Roquerre, who is also behind the Blur NFT marketplace, said the priority is enabling a smooth wind down.

Linea Yield Boost Reduction

Linea announced that Yield Boost will experience a temporarily decline in net staking rewards while affected MetaMask Staking validators exit and re-enter the network. The update follows an infrastructure security incident and precautionary validator exit at MetaMask Staking, which operates validators for Yield Boost.

Linea Yield Boost stakes surplus ETH bridged through Linea’s native bridge while that ETH remains on Ethereum mainnet, routing staking rewards to Linea ecosystem incentives rather than individual user balances. In an October 1 update, MetaMask said its investigation had found no indication that MetaMask wallets or customer funds were affected; investigation and containment efforts remain ongoing.

Aave Labs Proposes Aave Foundation

Aave Labs submitted a proposal to establish a memberless Aave Foundation to hold and protect intellectual property for the benefit of the Aave Protocol. The proposal follows the Aave Will Win Framework commitment to bring a community vehicle for Aave’s brand and IP under governance. Phase 1 covers only incorporation and the appointment of an initial independent director and supervisor. Transfers of the trademark, primary domains, and codebase IP, along with the foundation’s operational scope, would occur in a future phase.

The foundation’s stated objects would be limited to holding, protecting, and licensing IP, including a no-cost license of the Aave name back for product work. The DAO would retain protocol decisions, provider selection, and budgets, and could appoint or remove directors, block changes to the constitution or disposal of core IP, and direct the foundation’s wind-down. The proposal follows last year's governance tensions over Aave Labs ownership of the Aave brand, website, and frontend revenue.

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