1. Blast Announces It Will Cease Operations, TVL Falls from $2 Billion to $32 Million
Blast has announced that it will cease operations. According to the source material, the L2 network's TVL has fallen from a previous peak of about $2 billion to $32 million, while the project's monthly revenue is at extremely low levels, making it difficult to sustain the network's continued operation. As an L2 project that once rapidly attracted capital on the back of airdrop expectations, Blast's shutdown is seen by the market as a landmark event in the L2 sector's shakeout. The sharp decline in its TVL and the reality of low revenue directly reflect the operating pressure currently facing the airdrop-driven L2 business model.
2. Data Changes: TVL from $2 Billion to $32 Million
In terms of scale, Blast's TVL fell from $2 billion to $32 million, meaning that compared with the peak level, the vast majority of funds previously held on the network have left. TVL is an important metric for measuring on-chain capital retention and willingness to use the network; its sharp decline indicates that after the incentive cycle ended, the network's appeal to capital weakened significantly. At the same time, the source material notes that the project's monthly revenue is extremely low, indicating that without incentive-driven activity, the network struggles to form a stable source of protocol revenue. The dual pressure of capital outflows and insufficient revenue is the direct reason the project cannot sustain operations.
3. Airdrop-Driven L2 Business Models Under Pressure
The Blast case reflects the common problems facing the airdrop-driven L2 model. Such projects typically use token incentives and airdrop expectations to attract users and capital, driving up TVL and interaction data in a short period. However, once incentives are fully released and airdrop expectations are realized, if the network fails to generate genuine, sustained usage demand and a revenue structure, capital and users can easily leave, TVL declines accordingly, and revenue cannot cover operating costs. The source material explicitly states that Blast's shutdown reflects the pressure on the airdrop-driven L2 business model and accelerating industry elimination, and that the shutdown itself has significant industry implications.
4. Arbitrum Pauses New Stylus Contract Activation, Security Risks in Focus
Beyond Blast's shutdown, there is a new security development involving mainstream L2 network Arbitrum. Arbitrum announced a pause on new Stylus contract activation due to threats from AI-assisted WebAssembly attacks. The source material shows that this measure involves security issues and potential DoS risks for a mainstream L2. Pausing new contract activation is a security-level response aimed at preventing the possible spread of risks from AI-assisted attacks, but it may also affect the development progress of the related ecosystem. The relevant restoration timeline and subsequent assessment conclusions have yet to be disclosed.
5. The L2 Sector Under Dual Pressure from Operations and Security
Viewed side by side, these two developments show that the L2 sector is currently under pressure on both the operational and security fronts. On the operational side, the fact that Blast's TVL fell from $2 billion to $32 million and its monthly revenue is extremely low shows that scale built on incentives and airdrop expectations is not stable. The sustainability of a business model requires genuine on-chain demand and revenue for support; otherwise, it risks being eliminated by the industry. On the security side, Arbitrum's pause on new Stylus contract activation due to AI-assisted WebAssembly attack threats indicates that AI-assisted attack methods are becoming a new type of risk that on-chain infrastructure must confront. Potential DoS risks pose challenges to stable network operations, and mainstream L2s need to strengthen security protections in tandem with technological upgrades.
From an industry impact perspective, the dimensions of competition among L2 networks are changing. Incentive strength and short-term data performance alone are no longer sufficient to support a project's long-term survival, while the importance of capital retention capacity, revenue structure, and security protection is rising. Blast's shutdown provides a direct sample for observing the sustainability of airdrop-driven L2s, while Arbitrum's security response highlights the difficulty of balancing security risks and ecosystem advancement.
6. Areas to Watch Going Forward
Areas worth watching going forward include: how arrangements related to Blast's cessation of operations progress, and the demonstration effect of the event on similar airdrop-driven L2 projects; the restoration timeline for Arbitrum's new Stylus contract activation and the conclusions of its security assessment; and further changes in the L2 sector regarding capital retention, revenue structure, and security protection. Operational sustainability and security risks running in parallel remain two important threads for observing the evolution of the L2 sector.
