For the Love of the Game

(Market Commentary)

Well, that escalated quickly. What was projected to be a slow year of NFT sales in 2023 has instead turned into a frenzy of trading action, the likes of which we haven’t seen since early last year.

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The cause? There are many to be sure, but it’s hard not to point at the young Blur marketplace as the most prominent factor.

With buffed trading tools, and a deep reward system (if you live outside of the US), Blur has managed to do what LooksRare, X2Y2, and other marketplaces had hoped for themselves; go toe to toe with the juggernaut, OpenSea, in a fight over NFT traders. 

Last week, 360m $BLUR tokens were airdropped to over 100k wallets, and if you’re wondering where all of that liquidity went, collection activity pages on CryptoSlam tell the story at a glance. From Mutant Apes and Otherdeeds, to Art Gobblers and The Captainz, one can pick a project at random, to find that collectors have flocked to Blur, buying NFTs from their wishlist, or making their next hail mary play.

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If Blur’s token airdrop right hook to OpenSea wasn't enough to catch your attention, their follow-up haymaker now delivers the seriousness of their game plan, taking their stand via royalties in this David vs Goliath fight.

With creator fees continuing to be a hot topic in Web3, Blur is pushing the conversation forward (or backward depending on what side you take), and introducing a new policy; if creators want royalties on their platform, they must block their NFTs from being sold on OpenSea. This ladies and gentlemen, is the Franz Ferdinand moment of the Marketplace Wars.

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OpenSea’s response shows their grasp of just how serious the competition has gotten, and fired back, announcing that for a limited time, they would be taking a 0% fee on NFT sales instead of their standard 2.5%. 

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They say competition is good for the consumer, and if recent global sales volume is any indication, we’d say NFT investors approve. With global daily trading volume nearly 600% higher than just weeks ago, traders are speaking with their wallets and making it clear, they’re in it for the profit. With no or low fees, the profit sure seems to be plentiful.

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Time will tell if the race to 0% fees will remain. Though traders may call the extra profits a victory, it comes at the expense of creators who depended on royalties to maintain their livelihood. 

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A quote from Master Yoda should have us pondering who really wins with no royalties. “Victory? Victory you say? The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the (marketplace) war has”.

MEGA GMs

— Yehudah Petscher

News Headlines

Head honcho at YouTube believes blockchain and NFTs will help creators build deeper relationships with fans

Returning fire on Blur, OpenSea removes fees from their marketplace in a bid to remain competitive. 

SONY launches an NFT incubator program to build solutions for an array of problems in their industry.

Yuga Labs is in hot water again after admitting their Bored Ape Kennel Club logo is someone else’s IP.

Starbucks NFTs are so hot, they should come with a warning label.

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