Upbit to delist BLAST on Oct. 26, ends Blast-network withdrawals at noon Oct. 19

South Korean exchange Upbit said on Oct. 14 it will end trading support for Blast's BLAST token at noon KST on Oct. 26, covering its Korean won, BTC and USDT markets. Withdrawals of BLAST over the Blast network will stop earlier, at noon KST on Oct. 19, according to the notice posted at 4 p.m. KST.

Delisting decision comes 11 days after investment caution designation

Blast is an Ethereum layer-2 (L2) network, a secondary network that processes transactions on top of Ethereum. Blast announced on its official X account late on Oct. 2 KST that it would shut down because the cost of running the chain exceeded its revenue. Upbit designated BLAST as an investment caution asset early on Oct. 3 and halted deposits.

In its latest notice, Upbit said it had found shortcomings in the project's substance and sustainability under industry best practices for trading support, with a risk of harm to users, and that a further review concluded the reasons for the caution designation had not been resolved. The decision came 11 days after the designation. All buy and sell orders still open at the trading cutoff will be canceled, and Upbit said it will not support airdrops, wallet upgrades or similar services for BLAST after the notice.

No Blast-network withdrawals after noon Oct. 19

The BLAST held on Upbit is currently a Blast-network token. Following the Blast team's emergency shutdown of the network, Upbit will convert the BLAST it holds into Ethereum-network tokens and will close Blast-network withdrawals from noon on Oct. 19 to do so. Because no transactions can be created once the network is shut down, Upbit said Blast-network withdrawals will not reopen.

After the conversion, Upbit will reopen withdrawals on the Ethereum network and support them for 30 days from that day. It will announce the exact reopening date and window separately. Deposits are already suspended, and only withdrawals will reopen after the switch.

BLAST in external wallets must go through the official bridge

Citing the Blast team, Upbit said Blast-network BLAST tokens are scheduled to be burned in a single batch when the network shuts down. That means users who moved BLAST to their own wallets over the Blast network need to move it to Ethereum through the official bridge, a tool that transfers assets between networks.

According to Blast's official documentation, bridge withdrawals can only go to the same wallet address and require ETH for fees on both Blast and Ethereum. After requesting a withdrawal, users must wait up to one hour before submitting a proof transaction on Ethereum, then wait out a one-day challenge period before finalizing. Once finalized, BLAST is minted to the wallet on Ethereum. On the morning of Oct. 14 KST, Blast reminded users on X to withdraw and shared the Ethereum BLAST contract address (0x71b9e0FD392713A14FCaB92D9aF7A21F47E3b1Fa). Withdrawals through the regular Blast interface are available until Oct. 26, after which users will have to interact directly with the bridge contracts on Ethereum.

BLAST at 0.21 won, down 62% since the shutdown news

BLAST traded at 0.214 won on Upbit at 5:30 p.m. KST on Oct. 14, 13% below the previous close of 0.247 won. That is 62% lower than Upbit's opening price of 0.569 won on Oct. 2, the day the shutdown was announced. Upbit's 24-hour trading value was about 1.95 billion won. At the same time, BLAST traded at 0.2343 won on Bithumb, down 19% over 24 hours.