In a surprising turn of events, emerging NFT platform Blur has overtaken OpenSea in terms of trading volume for the month of May, establishing its dominance despite a decline in the overall market. According to a report by DappRadar, Blur achieved sales of $442 million, significantly surpassing OpenSea’s $183 million.
Securing a 65% Market Share
At present, Blur holds an impressive 65% share of the entire NFT market, while OpenSea, despite having approximately 300,000 more users, trails behind at just 27%.
Blur, founded in October, has gained recognition for its innovative token airdrops, which provide free cryptocurrency to loyal users. These strategies have played a pivotal role in driving Blur’s growth. In fact, some of the top recipients during the initial airdrop reportedly received over $1 million in free crypto.
The Launch of Blend Boosts Blur’s Success
Blur recently introduced Blend, an NFT lending product, which has contributed significantly to its achievements. Remarkably, Blend accounts for 50% of Blur’s total trading volume within just one month of its launch. According to data from Dune, around 21,962 loans were facilitated, amounting to approximately $319 million. With an 82% market share, Blend has outperformed all other NFT lending protocols.
However, critics have raised concerns about Blur’s rapid success. The marketplace has been accused of encouraging excessive trading as users strive to maximize their free crypto earnings. As a result, CryptoSlam, a crypto analytics platform, decided to retract $577 million worth of trades previously attributed to Blur, citing “market manipulation.”
Despite the success of platforms like Blur, the overall NFT market experienced a downturn in May. Monthly trading volumes fell below the $1 billion mark for the first time this year, plummeting by 44% to $675 million from April’s $1.2 billion.
Interestingly, the number of overall sales did not decline as drastically, showing a decrease of approximately 24% from 4.8 million to 3.6 million. With upstart platforms like Blur pushing boundaries, the dynamics of the NFT market continue to evolve in intriguing ways.
