Blur, one of the newest NFT marketplaces, has quickly risen to prominence in the rapidly growing industry. However, its journey to becoming the biggest marketplace is far from over, as it now faces fierce competition in a crowded field. To evaluate Blur’s current and future success, it’s important to examine its recent accomplishments and the challenges it faces.
As a newcomer in the NFT marketplace industry, Blur has already surpassed OpenSea in the overall value of sales made through its platform. One factor contributing to its success is its rewards program, which rewards traders for listing and bidding on NFTs with BLUR tokens. However, this program has also raised concerns about its authenticity and the volume of transactions on its platform.
Despite its success, the data has sparked a debate about Blur’s true significance. Critics argue that the marketplace’s volume has been artificially inflated by wash-trading and market manipulation, leading to a distorted view of the NFT market. According to CryptoSlam, sales data from Blur has been “misrepresenting” the NFT market, and the potentially artificial surge in sales has boosted the industry’s overall sales volume to its highest level since January 2022.
Data engineer Scott Hawkins from CryptoSlam stated that this is “artificially propping up sales volume in a very disingenuous way for the entire NFT market.” Furthermore, only 1% of high-value traders were responsible for the bulk of trading activity on the platform, raising additional concerns about its authenticity. Critics claim that a small minority of wallets on Blur are responsible for the majority of transactions.
In response to these concerns, CryptoSlam took action and removed hundreds of millions of dollars in Blur trades from its data, citing “market manipulation.” In addition, the company implemented an updated algorithm that filters out “suspicious” sales.
Although Blur is gaining traction and attracting new users, it still lags behind OpenSea in terms of user base. OpenSea currently has 294,146 users, while Blur has only 113,886 users in the last 30 days. Critics argue that OpenSea has a larger user base that consists of a smaller group of more active traders.
The future of Blur remains uncertain, as it faces stiff competition and concerns about its authenticity. The specifics of how the BLUR token will be valued and how it will gain value over time are unclear. Currently, BLUR operates as a governance token, but since Blur is a centralized entity, it will need to gradually cede control to token holders of a newly established DAO. This could be the reason why U.S. users were excluded from the airdrop, despite the fact that the token is available on major U.S. exchanges like Coinbase.
The Blur DAO will be responsible for governing critical aspects of the platform, such as establishing the protocol’s value accrual and distribution. This could include determining the protocol fee rate (up to 2.5%) after 180 days and awarding treasury grants to develop the marketplace further. These choices will play a critical role in shaping the platform’s future growth and determining whether Blur can compete effectively in the marketplace both now and in the immediate future.
In conclusion, Blur has experienced rapid growth in the NFT marketplace industry, but it still faces challenges and concerns about its authenticity. Its rewards program may have helped it gain traction, but it has also raised questions about artificially boosting transaction volume. With the establishment of its DAO, Blur will have to make key decisions that will determine its future growth and whether it can maintain its position among its competitors. The NFT marketplace is still in its early stages, and it remains to be seen whether Blur will be a significant player in the long run.
