In a surprising turn for the NFT marketplace Blur, the once-dominant platform has announced it will shut down operations, including its NFT-collateralized lending service, Blend, by November 12. This decision comes after a drastic fall in trading volume, leading to a more than 20% drop in the BLUR token to approximately $0.015 following the announcement.
From Market Powerhouse to Volume Decline
Launched in 2022, Blur quickly established itself as a formidable competitor to OpenSea, offering professional traders fast transactions, low fees, and token rewards. By March 2023, the platform commanded over 70% of Ethereum’s NFT trading volume.
According to DefiLlama, Blur’s monthly trading volume spiked to approximately $1.43 billion during its peak, only to plunge to under $7 million by March 2026, a staggering decline of over 99.5%.
Despite facilitating billions in NFT trades, Blur did not generate revenue from marketplace transaction fees. As per Token Terminal, its protocol revenue remains at zero dollars over the past three years. However, this data does not clarify if the platform earned income from lending services or other operations. The website still highlights its zero transaction fees and over $7.4 billion in trading volume.
Blur’s extensive reward programs faced criticism for encouraging speculative trading and exerting pressure on royalties paid to NFT creators. The trading volume figures do not differentiate between genuine buyers and those pursuing rewards.
Blend Users Face November 12 Deadline
Blur has set a November 12 deadline for Blend’s borrowers to repay their loans, failing which they will default. After this date, a separate tool will allow users to withdraw their assets from Blend.
The website closure will not affect Blur’s smart contracts on Ethereum; the blockchain-based transaction system will persist, allowing BLUR holders to maintain control over the mechanism to vote on marketplace transaction fees.
Unlike Blast, another venture from the creator Tieshun Roquerre that transparently linked its shutdown to operating losses, Blur has not publicly attributed its closure to any financial issues. Blast had attracted over $2 billion in assets, fueled by generous rewards, yet saw this figure dwindle to around $32 million by its closure announcement. Developers cited operating costs that surpassed revenue.
Blast users have until October 26 to withdraw assets through the existing interface, while Blur is set to cease operations on November 12.
