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The Blast ecosystem has reportedly experienced its first rug pull project after a project the layer-2 platform endorsed earlier this month as having "undeniable" potential disappeared over the weekend. Bybit/flickr.com

KEY POINTS

  • SomaXBT said more than 750 investors invested in RiskOnBlast
  • Multiple crypto security firms said the funds were already deposited to various exchanges
  • There have been questions about whether Blast, being the endorser, should be held liable

A gambling and exchange project on Ethereum layer-2 platform Blast allegedly disappeared Sunday after raising hundreds of Ether (ETH) in what could be the first rug pull on the Blast ecosystem.

RiskOnBlast, purported to be a gambling and exchange platform, raised more than 420 ETH, worth around $1.25 million based on current prices, from investors and retail traders who believed in the platform's potential, according to multiple crypto security analysts.

The project's account on X (formerly Twitter) is no longer available, and its website has reportedly disappeared. The incident is said to be the first rug pull – an exit scam wherein a team raises funds from investors by selling a token only to vanish or quietly shut down – on the Blast ecosystem.

Web3 fraud researcher somaXBT wrote on X that more than 750 were victimized by the project. Some $497,000 were reportedly lent through crypto swapping service ChangeNOW, around $360,000 were deposited on the MEXC exchange, and some $187,000 was transferred to Bybit, as per somaXBT.

Vulnerability analysis and malware defense firm PeckShield also flagged the incident, saying some of the funds were transferred to SideShift, while smaller amounts were bridged to Arbitrum and Cosmos.

Blockchain monitoring firm CertiK also said it saw an "exit scam on @riskonblast" over the weekend.

One investor reported a loss of $12,500 in the RiskOnBlast investment. "Expensive lesson learned," they wrote on X.

Another investor is said to have lost $10,000 on the project. "You know whose fault that is? Mine. It's part of the game onwards," user @TenaciousEth said with a fuming emoji.

Other X users have since weighed in on the rug pull incident, with some questioning whether the endorser, in this case Blast, should be "held responsible."

One user said the project's vanishing act was "not a good look" for Blast after it endorsed RiskOnBlast. Another user noted that "many projects have emerged due to the Blast Big Bang event, which is a competition for developer teams that will see winners receiving an unspecified amount of funding in the coming months. "Always be cautious. This is a cryptocurrency world where scams are prevalent," the user warned.

Blast put RiskOnBlast's potential at "undeniable" when it announced that the project was among the joiners of its Big Bang developer competition.

Blast has yet to provide an official statement regarding its first supposed rug pull project.

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