Blur, the rising NFT marketplace, stated on Tuesday that it would shortly airdrop 300 million tokens to loyal customers. This announcement comes just a day after the platform eclipsed once-untouchable competition OpenSea in terms of trading volume as the most popular Ethereum NFT trading platform.
Blur to airdrop $300 million extra tokens
The NFT marketplace will distribute 300 million BLUR tokens to traders during the platform’s “Season 2,” which has already begun. According to CoinGecko, the token is now trading at $0.99.
“Season 1,” which ended with the launch of its native token BLUR last week, saw the marketplace distribute “care packages” of BLUR to traders who; switched to the platform from another NFT marketplace, listed NFTs on the platform shortly after its October launch, or used Blur to bid on NFTs.
According to the company, “Season 2” will see tokens awarded to traders in a more strictly gamified approach. In addition, the platform customers will be assigned a “loyalty score” based on their involvement with and commitment to the trading platform; for example, buyers and sellers who do not use any other NFT marketplace will obtain a 100% loyalty score.
A user’s loyalty score, along with the number of NFTs listed, will decide how many BLUR tokens they will receive in a later airdrop.
No clear metric of reward has been released yet
Under this new loyalty system, each action, no matter how small, might boost a user’s chances of obtaining more tokens. For example, on Tuesday, the business said that even quote-tweeting its Season 2 Twitter announcement might raise a user’s loyalty score.
Nevertheless, it is unclear what technical processes the NFT marketplace has in place to connect activity on alternative platforms, such as Twitter, with stats on its own site. The statement on Tuesday is the latest salvo in an all-out battle amongst NFT platforms to attract and retain clients.
OpenSea, the $13.3 billion giant that was once thought to be the single dominating Ethereum NFT marketplace, has recently lost members to Blur, owing partly to the latter’s attractive token-backed incentives program. Those that blocklist the other company receive benefits from both companies.
Furthermore, the marketplace advised customers that relisting NFTs at ridiculous prices or listing dead collections would not contribute to point accumulation. It went on to say that listing and bidding from the same wallet would be preferable.
Furthermore, the NFT marketplace promised that the most tokens would be allocated to members who contributed to the protocol’s success, emphasizing that loyalty is the best contribution.
Blur supersedes OpenSea in trading volume
Blur’s trading volumes are currently substantially higher than OpenSea’s. Yet, it appears that a smaller group of whale dealers drove the majority of that activity. They typically flip NFTs in order to take advantage of the platform’s rewards system and earn as many tokens as possible.
The acceptance of the platform’s native token, on the other hand, will influence how effectively that incentive scheme performs. The token has lost around 24% of its value in the last day, falling from $1.28 to $0.98.
OpenSea withdrew its own 2.5% fee—the company’s principal source of revenue—for a “limited time” last week, perhaps in response to Blur’s rapid rise and lack of marketplace fees. It also reduced creator royalty protections, which were initially a trademark of the NFT model, and guaranteed creators a royalty fee—typically 5-10%—on secondary NFT sales.
Following an initial drop or sale, such royalty payments are how NFT initiatives generate ongoing revenue. While the long-term viability of the platform’s strong incentive program is unknown, its immediate impact on competitors such as OpenSea is almost expected to continue present patterns.
