Blur NFT Marketplace ($BLUR)

What is Blur NFT Marketplace?

Blur is an Ethereum-based (ETH) non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace that is specially designed for professional NFT traders. It is famous for its point-based airdrop system.

Key Takeaways

Tieshun Roquerre, also known as “Pacman” on X, revealed that he is a co-founder of Blur.
BLUR is a governance token of the Blur DAO.
Season 4 airdrop will reward BLAST tokens to users who bid and listed NFTs and lent ETH on Blur.
Blur’s point-based reward system changed how developers approached token airdrops.
Blur received a $11 million seed round investment led by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm in March 2022.

How Was Blur Developed?

Blur was founded by a team of developers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Five Rings, Brex, Square, and Y Combinator.

An $11 million seed round investment led by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm kickstarted Blur NFT marketplace development in March 2022.

In February 2023, Tieshun Roquerre – also known as “Pacman” on X – revealed that he is a co-founder of Blur.

How Does Blur Work?

Blur allows users to buy, sell, and list NFTs on its platform. You will need a crypto wallet to access the Blur NFT marketplace. Currently, users can trade NFTs that are minted on Ethereum and Blast L2 (BLAST) on Blur.

Blur’s pro-trader-focused user interface (UI) is different from rivals such as Opensea. On Blur, there is less emphasis on the creatives of the listed NFTs compared to Opensea.

Instead, Blur’s trading-focused interface prioritizes NFT market data and charts of metrics such as sales, floor price, top bid, price percentage change, trading volume, and number of owners.

In order to attract more users to its platform, Blur rewards users with BLUR tokens based on their platform activity. As early as May 2022, Blur distributed points to users who invited their friends to the platform.

Users can earn Blur points by:

Listing NFTs
Bidding on NFTs
Lending ETH on its platform

Blur also rewards airdrop points to users based on their “loyalty.” According to Blur, users can earn “loyalty” points by listing their NFTs exclusively on Blur and by listing blue-chip NFT collections.

Blur’s point-based airdrop reward system was incredibly successful in drawing users to the platform when it debuted in October 2023. Numerous crypto projects follow this model today.

Key Features of Blur NFT Marketplace

Here are the key features of Blur:

Key Features of Blur NFT Marketplace

Zero Platform Fees

Blur does not charge platform fees when users trade NFTs on its platform.

0.5% Royalty Fees

Blur enforces a minimum 0.5% royalty fee that is paid to NFT creators. Royalty fee enforcement has been a topic of controversy and debate in the NFT industry. Many marketplaces do not enforce royalty fees, which is detrimental to creator revenue.

Point-Based Airdrop Rewards

Blur rewards users with BLUR tokens based on their platform activity.

Lending ETH

Blur allows users to lend ETH to earn interest and airdrop points.

Blast Integration

Ethereum layer two (L2) rollup Blast was created by Blur developers. Therefore, the two projects share a close relationship. Blur users will be rewarded BLAST tokens in season 4 airdrop.

Sweeping

Blur has a feature that allows users to buy an entire collection.

Buy Now, Pay Later

Blur offers buy now, pay later features, where users can pay only a part of the price to acquire an NFT. The rest can be borrowed and paid later.

BLUR Tokenomics

BLUR is the governance token of the Blur NFT marketplace and its sister NFT lending protocol called Blend.

Let’s learn more about BLUR tokenomics below based on data as of 26 July 2024, according to CoinMarketCap.

Metric	Statistic
Total supply	3 billion tokens
Circulating supply	1.763 billion tokens
Circulating supply percentage	58.7%
Market cap	$331 million
Fully diluted market cap	$563.8 million
Crypto rank based on market cap	158

Here is more data on how BLUR tokens are allocated.

BLUR Token Use Cases

BLUR is a governance token of the Blur DAO. The token’s utility is restricted to voting on ideas and proposals for the Blur and Blend protocols.

Voting power is proportional to the amount of BLUR tokens a user owns.

BLUR token holders also have the power to:

Set NFT marketplace protocol fee rate.
Set lending protocol fee rates for lenders and borrowers.
Issue treasury grants.

Blur Rewards

When Blur was in private beta, Blur rewarded users with airdrop points when they invited new users to the platform.

Season 1 BLUR airdrop rewarded BLUR tokens to everyone who traded NFTs in the six months before October 2022.

Season 2 airdrop rewarded BLUR tokens to users who listed NFTs on Blur.

Season 3 airdrop rewarded BLUR tokens to users who bid and listed NFTs and lent ETH on Blur.

Season 4 airdrop will reward BLAST tokens to users who bid on NFTs, listed them and lent ETH on Blur. Season 4 will end in June 2025.

Blur Alternatives

Here are some alternatives to Blur:

Opensea: Opensea is the world’s largest NFT marketplace based on all-time NFT sales, according to DappRadar.
LooksRare: LooksRare is an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace. It is the third largest NFT marketplace in the world, behind Opensea and Blur, based on all-time NFT sales, according to DappRadar.
Magic Eden: Magic Eden is a Solana-focused NFT marketplace.

Blur Pros and Cons

Pros

Has zero marketplace fees
Its point-based airdrop system rewards users with tokens
Designed for professional NFT traders, offering advanced analytics and charts
Provides buy now, pay later option
Offers tools for fast sweeping and sniping of NFTs
Allows users to earn interest by lending ETH through its ETH lending features

Cons

Its trading focus often overshadows the creative attributes of NFTs
Policy of enforcing only a minimum 0.5% royalty fee can lead to lower creator income
Although Blur is currently not charging any platform fees, BLUR token holders have the power to increase platform fees to a maximum of 2.5%.

BLUR Future

The outlook for the BLUR token will depend on the performance and popularity of the Blur NFT marketplace and the Blend NFT lending protocol.

Data compiled by The Block showed that weekly NFT sales across all networks peaked in late August 2021 at $3.24 billion. Weekly NFT sales across all networks stood at $96.9 million in mid-July 2024, 97% below all-time high levels.

The Bottom Line

Learning the definition of Blur is important to understand how the NFT industry has evolved over the years.

When Blur debuted in October 2022, it disrupted a sector dominated by market leader OpenSea. Blur ate a big chunk of OpenSea’s market share by offering an NFT trading platform for pro traders with zero commissions and low royalty fees.

Furthermore, Blur’s point-based reward system changed how developers approached token airdrops.