While the crypto market is still in an uptrend despite the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) increase in regulatory actions, projects have been seen taking advantage of the so-called ‘mini bull run’ with new launches. NFT marketplace Blur is one of them.
On Valentine’s day, February 14, Blur airdropped its native token under the ticker BLUR. The digital asset was launched on the Ethereum blockchain to users who have actively traded NFTs on the marketplace over the past six months.
Following the project’s token airdrop, network activity on the Ethereum blockchain has soared, spiking the network’s gas prices and the amount of ETH burned in a day. This network’s spike in activity can be linked to Blur users claiming their respective airdropped tokens and to the transactions on the marketplace.
BLUR Token Surges Ethereum Network Activity
According to data from Ultra Sound Money, a total amount of 2,469 ETH worth roughly $4 million has been burned in the last seven days, removing a portion of ETH from circulation permanently, which has had a positive effect on ETH’s price.
Over the past weeks, Ethereum network activity has been trending to the upside, mirroring ETH’s surge in price. Two weeks ago, NewsBTC reported that the amount of Ethereum burned recorded a new high exceeding the 3,000 ETH mark.
This metric seems relatively low to the ETH burned due to the BLUR token airdrop, which hasn’t been the only new high Ethereum has recorded in the past month. In January, the Ethereum staked on the Beacon chain, the proof-of-stake blockchain, reached an all-time high of over 16.16 million ETH, which holds more than 13.28% of the total ETH supply.
Entering The Spotlight
While the token has boosted Ethereum’s activity, the marketplace is beginning to seize the spotlight with massive recognition. According to the data provider, Dune analytics, the Blur NFT marketplace has gained traction, obtaining a larger share of the NFT market ecosystem.
Blur controlled 64.6% of NFT market trading volume in the past week as opposed to OpenSea’s 24.4% and X2Y2’s relatively low trading volume of 5.1%. Though OpenSea has the most recognition, Blur’s recent airdrop has increased its popularity.
Blur is an NFT marketplace and market aggregator that offers services such as advanced analytics, excellent portfolio management capabilities, and the ability to compare NFTs on multiple marketplaces.
Unlike Opensea’s royalty fee, Blur takes a distinct approach of enforcing royalty fees only when requested by creators. The platform currently does not enforce full royalties. Instead, it enables the enforcement of only a 0.5% minimum creator royalty, allowing users to pay more when purchasing an NFT item on the marketplace.
While the marketplace has begun to gain needed traction, its native token BLUR hasn’t been left out of the equation. Amid the increase in activity, BLUR went as high as $5 before suffering a massive retracement bringing its price to as low as $0.90.
Over the past three days, BLUR has plummeted by over 80% and trades below $1 for $0.93. BLUR still ranks #131 on CoinGecko with a market cap above $350 million.