Last week, Blast, one of the major Layer 2 networks, transitioned from using calldata to blobs, marking a significant milestone in its development. Blast, an optimistic rollup, has gained attention for supporting native yield. Despite its mainnet launch in February, early access began in November 2023, allowing deposits but restricting withdrawals. This early access period, along with earned Blast Points, helped the platform amass over $1 billion in total value locked before its full launch, despite facing criticism and "Ponzi scheme" allegations regarding its invite rewards structure.

Now open to the public, Blast has yet to announce an airdrop but continues to capture interest due to its backing by Paradigm and its creation by the founder of NFT marketplace Blur, alongside its yield opportunities. The platform also hosts fantasy.top, a trendy protocol for trading crypto influencer cards, which ranked in the top 10 platforms by daily fees earlier this month, although its revenue has slowed.

In terms of daily activity, Blast trails behind Arbitrum and Base, the Coinbase-backed optimistic rollup, but remains competitive with daily transactions averaging around 500,000, similar to Optimism. This is impressive for a newer network.

The shift from calldata to blobs for posting transaction summaries has significantly reduced data storage costs for all Layer 2s, including Blast. Prior to the blob upgrade on May 27, Blast's median transaction fee remained below $0.10. Since the transition, fees have not exceeded $0.01, making Blast one of the most affordable Layer 2 solutions available.

Blast posts between 700 and 1,000 blobs per day, placing it behind Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Taiko, and Scroll but ahead of Linea and other ZK rollup networks. Notably, Blast is the third most dominant network for blob transactions on the Ethereum mainnet, posting one blob per transaction. In contrast, Optimism often posts six blobs per transaction, which is more cost-effective for reducing transaction fees.

While larger rollups typically batch more blobs per transaction to minimize costs, Blast's current approach of posting one blob per transaction appears to be a temporary setup as the network adjusts. Despite this, Blast is already passing on significantly reduced fees to its users without the need for bundling.

This strategic move by Blast highlights its commitment to providing cost-effective solutions for users, positioning itself as a competitive player in the Layer 2 space. As it continues to evolve and possibly adjust its blob posting strategy, Blast's ability to maintain low transaction fees will likely attract more users and solidify its standing in the market.