Blur to Shut Its Website as NFT Trading Volume Plunges

Blur, once the largest marketplace for non-fungible tokens on Ethereum, is shutting down its website on Nov. 12. The closure follows a steep contraction in activity on the platform, with monthly trading volume dropping from about $1.43 billion at its 2023 peak to under $7 million.

The decline marks a major change for a marketplace that had previously ranked among the busiest venues for Ethereum-based NFT trading. The figures indicate that the value of transactions passing through Blur has fallen by more than 99% from its peak, leaving the platform with a fraction of its earlier activity.

A sharp reversal in marketplace activity

NFT marketplaces provide venues where users can buy and sell blockchain-based tokens tied to digital items. Trading volume is therefore a useful measure of activity on these platforms, although it does not by itself explain why users are trading more or less. In Blur’s case, the available figures show a rapid fall from billions of dollars in monthly trading to less than $7 million.

The shutdown also comes as another project linked to Blur faces a similar development. Sister project Blast announced its own shutdown 10 days earlier, placing the two closures close together within the broader group of related cryptocurrency projects.

What the closure means for Ethereum NFT markets

Blur’s exit removes a prominent name from Ethereum’s NFT marketplace landscape. Its closing website will also make the platform’s Nov. 12 deadline a clear point of transition for users and market participants tracking where NFT trading activity is taking place.

The information available does not provide further details about the operational reasons for the shutdown, how users’ assets will be handled, or whether Blur’s services will continue in another form. For now, the central facts are the website closure and the scale of the volume decline that preceded it.

Source: Coindesk