decrypt.co
NFT marketplace Blur is growing by leaps and bounds.
With the launch of Blend, Blur’s new lending platform, it’s hit yet another milestone.
Data per Dune, now shows that Blend has facilitated more than 100,000 ETH in total volume, or roughly $181 million, just 17 days since its launch.
Blend lets users take out Ethereum loans by putting their NFTs up as collateral. They can then use this loan to purchase new NFTs on the Blur marketplace. In return, liquidity providers receive interest, a mechanism that’s spawned the “NFTfi” niche in crypto.
Though the project racked up more than 3,000 loans from 900 unique lenders, adding Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Clube (MAYC) collections on Monday fueled further enthusiasm among NFT collectors.
These collections were added to the four collections previously available, Azuki, Wrapped Cryptopunks, DeGods, and Miladys.
BAYC and MAYC accounted for a total volume of 2,267 ETH on day one. On Wednesday, BAYC was the third-most traded collection on the platform with a volume of 3,082 ETH, just behind Azuki (4,616 ETH) and Wrapped Cryptopunks (2,260 ETH).
Azuki remains the top collection in total volume, having exceeded 50,000 ETH, which is nearly half of the total volume since the service was created.
Currently, Blend does not take any fees from either borrowers or lenders. However, Blur has indicated that token holders could vote to implement fees after a 180-day period.
Blur’s bumpy start
Launched just last fall, Blur quickly became the most popular NFT marketplace, representing nearly 59% of the total NFT transaction volume to date.
However, some suspect the platform of harboring wash trading operations, especially amid the platform’s token launch.
According to analyst Hildhobby, Blur indeed only accounted for 14,575 traders, compared to 46,353 on Opensea.
At the end of February, CryptoSlam, a platform for tracking NFT sales, announced that it would remove $577 million worth of Blur trades from its data due to "market manipulation." The platform also said that it will filter future Blur trades on its platform through an updated algorithm that excludes what it sees as suspicious sales.
Nevertheless, the success of Blend only strengthens Blur's position, which seems set to establish itself in the long run as a major player in the NFT ecosystem.