OpenSea has already some competition. MagicEden and LooksRare are just two examples of NFT marketplaces that have become an alternative. LOOKS is the native token of the later marketplace and it appears that this is exactly what OpenSea is missing. The community is demanding a token for some time but without any luck so far. 

Who is this young upstarting competitor and how did Blur manage to overtake OpenSea? 

Blur airdropped its governance token

The recent success of Blur stems from the fact that the marketplace started with a plan of providing airdrops, bonuses, and a loyalty program. Stage one was an airdrop last week worth $100 million that turned some heads by delivering BLUR tokens to loyal users. They now have become community members and have 60 days to claim their share.

BLUR is not only free money in their pockets but also the governance token of the platform. This means that those users who hold onto their gift can determine the platform’s future by exercising voting rights.

This whole idea isn’t exactly new and many other DeFi applications such as Uniswap or 1Inch caught also the attention of millions of users by airdropping their tokens. These successful airdrops left quite an impression on the market. In some cases, platforms are frequented by users just because they hope that there will be an airdrop. Airdrop hunting has become a sport for investors since it is affordable and promises huge returns in case the platform starts to hand out free tokens. 

Blur overtakes OpenSea

After Blur announced the distribution of BLUR tokens worth $300 million in form of a loyalty program, the trading volume of the marketplace exploded. It grew by almost 466% and overtook the daily trading volume of OpenSea. Users have to perform different tasks and fulfill certain criteria to maximize their gains. Such as not listing NFTs anywhere else other than Blur. 

One could argue that Blur is buying users by redistributing tokens. On the other hand, would you rather trade on a platform that somehow rewards you or would you either go with a product that gives nothing back at all?

Blur had made it clear that more seasons could follow after the tokens worth $300 million are deployed. That means that users are most likely to keep on trading on Blur hoping to catch more rewards. OpenSea remains still in a pole position but Blur proves that this could change in the future if the platform is not able to shift its model.