On February 14, NFT marketplace Blur launched its native token, BLUR, and kicked off its third round of airdrop at the same time. Despite being blacklisted by OpenSea, Blur has managed to break OpenSea’s long-term monopoly in the NFT market and is now a worthy opponent to OpenSea in the race for market dominance. According to NFTGO, as of February 12, OpenSea and Blur stand as the top two NFT platforms based on NFT trading volumes recorded in the past 30 days. In particular, OpenSea registered about $450 million, and Blur followed closely behind with around $350 million.
Source: NFTGO
In just one year, Blur has grown rapidly, evolving from a newcomer to a formidable rival to OpenSea, which demonstrates strong backing and ingenious operating tactics.
1. Versatile Functionalities
Blur has introduced many innovative features since day one. It is not only an NFT marketplace but also an NFT aggregator. More specifically, the Blur aggregator consolidates information from NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, LooksRare, and X2Y2, allowing users to trade NFTs on multiple platforms through a single portal (including Blur’s own). Despite OpenSea’s long-standing dominance in the NFT market, Blur has brought changes to the market, and users have hailed it as a multifunctional platform that combines the best of OpenSea and GEM.
Blur has integrated its marketplace with an aggregator to provide traders with a concise, user-friendly, and professional interface that meets the demand for high-frequency NFT transactions with faster and more convenient trading. Additionally, Blur has migrated and optimized NFTNerds’ functionality with batch purchase features for professional traders, attracting more new users. Unlike other NFT platforms, Blur does not charge users fees, but instead sticks to zero rates and customizable royalties, which caters to the needs of ordinary NFT traders.
Blur has gained traction mostly because it is backed by a strong team consisting of developers from prestigious institutions such as MIT, Twitch, Square, Y Combinator, Five Rings Capital, and Citadel. Such strong backing is expected to help Blur continue to update its features to stay innovative and dynamic.
2. Novel Marketing Strategies
Since its launch, Blur has taken the marketing strategy of airdrop-based user acquisition to the extreme. Although airdrops are not a new tactic in the crypto space, Blur’s airdrops are frequent and long-lasting. To be more specific, the airdrop on February 14 is already its third airdrop campaign, and the two previous airdrops both lasted a long time. Moreover, the Blur airdrops also continued to expand in scale. According to official sources, this will be the last and largest Blur airdrop. Based on Blur’s airdrop eligibility requirements, we can tell how its marketing strategies progress. For instance, each Blur airdrop has targeted different user groups, with the first focusing on user acquisition, and the second attracting new users and incentivizing sellers to expand the project’s user base.
In addition to the expanding scale and coverage, Blur has cleverly incorporated user loyalty into airdrops to encourage active trading: the more loyal you are, the more BLUR tokens you could get through airdrops. Meanwhile, by setting reasonable eligibility criteria, the platform has promoted the adoption of its features to make itself stickier.
Conclusion: A Strong Platform With Bright Market Prospects
Looking back on the growth trajectory of Blur, it’s evident that the platform’s moves, whether in product design or user operations, have all been strategic and purposeful, making it a role model for other blockchain projects. Blur has emerged as a dark horse in the NFT market, and its success is by no means an accident. The project has shattered the status quo of the NFT market through professional, innovative features and set itself apart from others with uniquely defined products and functions. Offering a diversified NFT marketplace, Blur has enabled progress in the NFT sector. BLUR, the platform’s native token, was listed on CoinEx on February 15, and users can now seamlessly deposit, withdraw, and trade BLUR on this global crypto exchange.
* No financial advice is provided herein.
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