Blur NFT Marketplace Shuts Website as Collectors Celebrate Exit

Blur, the NFT marketplace that once dethroned OpenSea in trading volume, revealed on Monday that its website will close on November 12. The announcement, its first post on X in over a year, confirmed the onchain marketplace would keep running while Blend, its peer to peer NFT lending protocol, stops issuing new loans. Borrowers have until the shutdown date to repay or default, and a withdrawal interface is promised afterward.

Rather than mourning, many collectors welcomed the news. “Good riddance. You destroyed NFTs,” one user replied, while another congratulated the community for surviving the platform’s rise.

Optional Royalties Criticism Returns

The backlash traces back to Blur’s 2022 launch, when it let sellers choose royalty payments while dangling bigger token rewards for higher payouts. That model accelerated a race to the bottom on creator fees. Magic Eden had gone optional a week earlier, and OpenSea soon followed. By July 2023, effective royalties collapsed to 0.6% from 2.5% in 2022, a decline analysts largely pinned on Blur.

NFT Market Downturn Continues

The closure lands amid a deep slump. September NFT sales hit just $167 million across 2.9 million transactions, versus $6 billion over 13.7 million transactions at the January 2022 peak. Nifty Gateway, Rodeo and Foundation have also wound down this year.