New NFT marketplace Blur is outperforming OpenSea

The war for dominance in the non-fungible token (NFT) market is heating up. The NFT sector exploded in popularity in 2021, and since then, OpenSea has been dominating the market with the highest trading volumes. However, a new rival, Blur, threatens to overtake OpenSea and become the largest NFT marketplace.

Blur airdrop drives interest

The growing interest in the Blue NFT marketplace could be attributed to a highly anticipated token airdrop on February 14. The airdrop was spread in three phases to reward uses while supporting this new marketplace’s growth and liquidity.

360 million tokens were released on this airdrop, equivalent to around 12% of the total supply. Since February 14, data from Footprint shows that 33,763 new addresses have moved to the Blur marketplace. Some of these users came from other NFT marketplaces, indicating that the airdrop was a success.

Blur’s first round of airdrops included “care packages” that could be redeemed for the BLUR token by everyone that traded six months before the airdrop event. The second round of airdrop was for active traders on Blur through November, while the third round will target the traders who bid on Blur.

Blur dethrones OpenSea

OpenSea has dominated the NFT market for a long time. While other marketplaces, such as Magic Eden and Rarible, have their share of NFT trading volumes, none have come close to overtaking OpenSea.

Data from DappRadar shows that Blur is now taking the top position in terms of NFT trading volumes. Blur has reported more than $622 million in trading volumes over the last seven days, while OpenSea has recorded around $123 million in trading volumes. The trading volumes on Blur have increased by 51% in the last seven days.

The increasing trading volumes on Blur could be attributed to the token airdrop, as those who received the rewards turned to the marketplace to acquire NFTs. The traders that received the token airdrop are largely using Blur to buy and sell NFTs, explaining the skyrocketing volumes on the platform.

On the other hand, it appears as if the hype behind the BLUR token is weakening. In the last seven days, the token plunged by 31%, trading at $0.852 at the time of writing. The token has a market capitalization of over $335 million and ranks as the 140 largest cryptocurrency by this metric.

The Blur NFT marketplace has set itself aside by its unique model. Through this model, the platform largest incentivizes heavy activity while promising token rewards to traders that use bidding pools to support the bulk trading of NFTs.

The Blur marketplace also incentivizes traders to treat NFTs like they do decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. The platform allows traders to flip their collectibles frequently while maximizing potential benefits through liquidity mining. OpenSea, which is feeling the heat of the trading frenzy on Blur, announced trimming its marketplace fee by 2.5% to remain competitive.