Blast Is Shutting Down Its Layer 2
Plus, Chainalysis ties the $387 million Bitget hack to North Korea
gm, Defiers!
These are the biggest stories in DeFi and crypto:
- Blast is shutting down its Layer 2 and giving users until Oct. 26 to withdraw
- Chainalysis tied the $387 million Bitget hack to North Korea
- Aave Labs proposed a foundation to put Aave's brand and IP under DAO oversight
- NEAR Intents says its attacker returned the $3.8 million in full
- The IMF approved $138 million for El Salvador after waiving missed conditions, Bitcoin included
In June 2024 Blast held $2.2 billion in DeFi deposits and paid users native yield for keeping ETH on its chain. On Friday it said it sees no credible path to making that chain pay for itself, and it is shutting it down.
Blast told users to move their assets to Ethereum by Oct. 26, the last day its normal interface will process withdrawals; after that, funds stay recoverable through the bridge contracts directly. About $63.5 million still sits in the canonical bridge, and L2BEAT values the stETH component of its secured assets at about $46.8 million. Withdrawals pause first for roughly a week while Blast unwinds its Lido position, then resume with a 24-hour delay.
The feature that pulled deposits in is now what slows them down: native yield meant parking users' ETH in Lido, so every exit waits on that unwind first. Blast joins Balancer, whose holders approved a wind-down this week, and ZetaChain, which voted in September to retire its chain.
Read more below!
Blast to Shut Down Layer 2, Citing Unsustainable Costs
Blast said on Oct. 2 that it will shut down its Ethereum Layer 2, citing operating costs that exceed revenue: "we do not see a credible path to making the chain economically sustainable." Users should move assets to Ethereum mainnet by Oct. 26, the deadline for the normal interface; after that, funds stay withdrawable through the bridge contracts, and Blast says it will publish instructions before then. About $63.5 million remained in the canonical bridge on Friday morning, per DefiLlama. Withdrawals stop for roughly a week while Blast unwinds its Lido assets, then resume with a 24-hour delay. The Defiant reported in August 2025 that Blast's DeFi deposits had fallen to $65 million from $2.2 billion in June 2024.
Chainalysis Links $387 Million Bitget Hack to North Korea
Chainalysis attributed the Sept. 24 Bitget theft to North Korean actors in an Oct. 1 report, saying it pushed the firm's 2026 tally of crypto stolen by DPRK-linked groups past $1 billion. The report describes how the funds were traced and does not disclose the evidence behind the attribution. Investigators matched XRP deposits into a cross-chain liquidity protocol with bitcoin payouts; Bitquery identified that route as THORChain and counted 93.22 million of the roughly 102.98 million stolen XRP swapped for bitcoin by Sept. 29. THORChain had already invoked its permissionless design when Bitget asked it to refuse service to the attacker's addresses.
Aave Labs Proposes Foundation to Bring Brand and IP Under DAO Oversight
Aave Labs proposed a Cayman Islands foundation to hold the Aave trademark, primary domains and protocol IP under DAO oversight, saying those assets currently sit outside the DAO's control. Phase 1, now at the Request for Final Comments stage, would only fund formation and independent appointments; each transfer of trademark, domains or code returns to governance as its own vote. An independent director would run the memberless foundation under a separate supervisor, and Aave Labs and DAO service providers are barred from both roles. AAVE holders would get the power to appoint and remove directors, but no stake in the foundation. WIPO's database separately lists Estonian entity Quantum Swan OÜ as holder of a U.S. AAVE wordmark.
NEAR Intents GM Says $3.8 Million in Hack Funds Returned in Full
NEAR Intents general manager Alex Shevchenko said Oct. 2 that funds from the roughly $3.8 million exploit were returned in full and that the team is stopping its investigation. The night before, he had given the attacker 48 hours and posted three return addresses. The Bitcoin address received about 34.59 BTC, roughly $2.95 million, and the Ethereum/BNB Chain address took in about 0.2953 ETH and 1 BNB with an onchain message: "Willing to cooperate, reply with your Signal so contact is possible." Those receipts alone do not cover the full preliminary loss, and Shevchenko gave no asset-by-asset reconciliation. NEAR Intents still owes a detailed report.
IMF Approves $138 Million for El Salvador After Bitcoin Waiver
The IMF's executive board completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador's program on Oct. 1, unlocking about $138 million under a roughly $1.4 billion, 40-month arrangement, and granted waivers for missed conditions, a limit on Bitcoin accumulation among them. Staff had verified in September that the Bitcoin added since the first review came from private donations, with no public money used. The fund's statement still says "no further Bitcoin accumulation is envisaged beyond the documented donations." Majority control of the Chivo wallet has passed to a private operator, and First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz said the state's residual exposure "should be fully unwound."
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