Layer-2 Blockchain Blast Grinds to a Halt During Ethereum Dencun Upgrade

A Blast block explorer has reported that the Blast network had encountered a disruption in block production during the Ethereum Dencun upgrade. No blocks have been produced since approximately 14:05 GMT.

Designed as an experimental layer-2 solution on Ethereum, the Blast network offers a native yield on assets. The layer-2 blockchain team said a full analysis has been done on the issue, and it will be shared shortly.

Blast Network Experiences Block Production Halt Due to Ethereum Upgrade

The Blast Mainnet has stopped producing blocks due to issues related to Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade.

Core engineering contributors are working on a fix. We’ll share an update and post-mortem once the fix is live (eta 30-60 min).

— Blast (@Blast_L2) March 13, 2024

According to an announcement posted on X by the Blast project, the halt in block production is attributed to issues arising from Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade. 

The Dencun upgrade, a significant update for the Ethereum network, was deployed earlier in the day. According to Blast Scan data, block production ceased around 10:00 AM ET following the upgrade.

Upon discovering the issue, the Blast team promptly responded, with their core engineers actively working to find a solution. They provided an estimated timeframe of 30 to 60 minutes for implementing the fix. After approximately an hour, the Blast team updated that operations had returned to normal, and full analysis of the incident will be published soon.

Update: the issue has been resolved.

A full analysis on the issue will be shared shortly. https://t.co/Ggw05W3g3b

— Blast (@Blast_L2) March 13, 2024

Additionally, they announced updates to the Blast node repository and provided guidance for users experiencing transaction issues during the downtime. They shared instructions for MetaMask and Rabby users and mentioned ongoing efforts to upgrade Blast nodes with Infura and BlockPi.

Blast Network Gathered $2.96 billion Total Value Locked value while Dencun Upgrade Unfazed by Optimism’s Block Production Activities

As per data from L2 Beat, the total value locked in smart contracts on the network, including its Ethereum multi-sig wallet, stands at approximately $2.96 billion. Several protocols, such as Orbit Protocol, Ring Protocol, and Pac Finance, have been developed on the Blast network or expanded to integrate with it.

In the last 24 hours, the largest protocol within the network, Orbit Finance, witnessed a huge uptick in total value locked (TVL), rising by 32% to reach $431 million. Despite this surge in TVL, the native token of Orbit experienced a notable decline in value, plummeting by over 20% today. This decline comes after the token’s issuance on March 8.

Blast faced initial scrutiny for soliciting deposits to a multisig wallet before its layer 2 went live. Despite this, it garnered $2.3 billion in deposits. Following its launch on the mainnet in late February, Blast, a fork of Optimism, surpassed Optimism as the second-largest Ethereum rollup by total value locked (TVL) as of Wednesday morning, according to DeFiLlama. The Blast ecosystem hosted 51 protocols, collectively securing over $1 billion in assets.

In contrast, Optimism continued its block production activities unaffected by the Dencun upgrade. Blast’s appeal to developers was evident, with over 3,000 projects participating in its developer contest to launch on the Layer-2 mainnet and receive an enhanced airdrop allocation.

Developers highlighted the rollup’s deep liquidity and the successful track record of its founder in building the NFT marketplace Blur as key factors driving their interest in the platform.

Dencun is the most anticipated Ethereum hard fork upgrade since the Merge. The network upgrade is expected to make it much cheaper to use layer-2 networks, thanks to a new ability that lets the network store information for a limited amount of time rather than indefinitely.