Here is everything you need to know

$BLUR is finally here. After delay the launch of the platform’s initial token in January, the NFT marketplace officially began allowing users to redeem care packages for the token at 1:30 PM ET February 14, 2023. The run up to the launch has been characterized by much anticipation, with popular exchange Coinbase tweeting that it would list the token if liquidity conditions are met and Blur’s trading volume increases in the past month, cementing its place as one of the top ten NFT marketplaces in existence.

How did Blur manage to do all this in such a short time? And how is the token launch going? Here we break down everything you need to know about the marketplace’s recent rise to NFT stardom and why the launch of the initial token is such a crucial event for the platform, its users and Web3.

Blur’s Web3 appeal

Blur’s rise has been undeniable. Founded by Web3 dev Pac Man and launched in October 2022, the low-fee, royalty-free marketplace has seen over $430 million in trading volume in the past 30 days. This number is particularly impressive given that Blur’s combined trading volume totaled over $301 million between its launch in October 2022 and the end of December.

The marketplace’s success is the result of its strategy of targeting a specific demographic of Web3 users: the professional trader. Where platforms like OpenSea or Objkt appeal more to more casual NFT enthusiasts who engage in smaller trades occasionally, Blur is intended to hook those who engage in high-volume trades with reasonable frequency. The marketplace’s stance on royalties, which has generally been to keep them as low as possible and give traders the option to enforce them or not, speaks to this approach. This is also why, while Web3 giant OpenSea consistently has more daily active users, Blur rivals and sometimes surpasses the platform in trade volume.

What is $BLUR?

$BLUR is Blur’s long-awaited native token. It is an ERC-20 governance token that will have a maximum supply of three billion. Twelve percent of that offer is assigned air droplet holders, with an additional 78 percent delegated to two lock contracts and nine percent owned by a multi-sig wallet controlled by the Blur team. The earliest information from CoinMarketCap put the token’s fully diluted market cap at $14 billion, with a single $BLUR token currently trading for just $5.00, but the latest figures both drop sharply to just under $2.5 billion and $0.69. .

Users have been collecting $BLUR in the form of airdrops from the platform for the past few months. The first airdrop rewarded those who “stuck around the bear market”, i.e. anyone who traded NFTs on Ethereum for six months before Blur’s launch in October. The second consisted of $BLUR care packages for platform users who listed NFTs on Blur (after meeting a certain threshold) from October 19th to December 5th. The third was aimed at traders bidding on Blur and was the largest of the three airdrops. Active users who kept up with this system has largely anticipated the launch of the token.

Pacman has said that Blur has done its best to avoid incentivizing volume as a Web3 platform, as this encourages wash trading, resulting in distorted calculations and a lower quality product to offer its user base. Having incentivized liquidity instead via its second airdrop by rewarding users who listed NFTs on its platform (and not giving any reward to users for the actual sale of these NFTs), they removed the wash trade payout. And with Blur’s third, bid-focused airdrop, the marketplace did much the same, notably by giving larger rewards to bids that were closer to floor prices and better reflected the actual market price of those NFTs.

The $BLUR tool

$BLUR will be used as the marketplace’s governance token, allowing the platform to move towards a more decentralized future. Blur also takes a unique approach to the royalty debate with its token dynamic, as platform users who choose to maintain royalties for creators are rewarded with more of the token.

Web3 will have to wait to see how Blur’s users react to the launch of the $BLUR token. Nansen, a Web3 analytics firm, recently highlighted how LooksRare users replied to that platform’s original token when it launched, noting that most holders either sold, transferred, or staked their token. For now, users should be diligent to avoid malicious actors trying to siphon their tokens, as keen observers have noted fake Blur token contracts is being distributed to trick unwary platform users.

Token launchers can do wonders for Web3 devices, but they need to be navigated correctly. Despite Blur’s recent success, it doesn’t have the pedigree of an NFT supporter like Bored Ape Yacht Club. How their community reacts to the launch (and what utility and value it brings them) will likely have a massive impact on the future of the upcoming marketplace. If they are not careful, things can quickly become unclear.