Blast, the Ethereum layer-2 network, will cease operations with a final user withdrawal deadline of October 26, 2026. The team announced the decision on October 2, 2026 in a public statement.

Its explanation for the closure is brief: running the network costs more than the network brings in. The message to users still holding assets on the chain was equally short: withdraw before the deadline.

What's the user withdrawal timeline?

Blast has laid out a three-stage exit for users holding assets on the rollup.

First, the network must unwind its staked assets held through Lido, the liquid staking protocol. Operators expect that process to take about one week.

Once the Lido unwinding completes, Blast plans to shorten its withdrawal delay to 24 hours. That step will simplify the migration of user assets back to the Ethereum mainnet.

After October 26, 2026, withdrawal requires users to interact directly with Blast's bridge contracts on Ethereum's layer 1.

Why is Blast shutting down?

The economics deteriorated after the early post-launch surge. Blast went live on Ethereum mainnet in February 2024 and quickly accumulated more than $2 billion in total value locked.

The early capital flowed in on two main draws. The first was native yield: deposited assets earned returns automatically just by sitting on the network. The second was anticipation of token airdrops distributed to early users.

By mid-2025, the picture had changed sharply. Blast's TVL had dropped more than 97% from its peak. Daily active users and developer activity declined in parallel.

The project also dealt with security incidents during its run and faced growing competition in an increasingly crowded layer-2 market.

Who built Blast?

Tieshun Roquerre, known in crypto circles as Pacman, founded the network. He also created Blur, the NFT marketplace.

The Blur pedigree helped Blast raise funding from prominent investors including Paradigm and Standard Crypto.

What does the wind-down mean for users?

The most immediate audience is the user base still holding assets on Blast. Withdrawals before October 26, 2026 are the priority, particularly once the 24-hour delay window opens after the Lido unwinding completes.

Missing the deadline does not eliminate access, based on the plan the team described. It does mean handling the migration directly through Ethereum's layer-1 bridge contracts, a more technical process than the standard withdrawal flow.

What does Blast's trajectory signal?

The arc from over $2 billion in TVL at launch to a 97% drawdown illustrates a recurring pattern in rollup economics: deposits during airdrop-driven cycles often prove transient.

Blast's experience suggests much of the capital it attracted was renting the network rather than committing to it. The wind-down will be a closely watched test of how rollup teams handle bridge unwinds and stranded user assets when a chain's economics fail to support its infrastructure costs.

Market participants will track two operational milestones: the Lido unwinding expected to take about a week, and the October 26, 2026 withdrawal deadline. The orderly execution of those steps will shape how Blast is remembered in the layer-2 market's development arc.