It finally happened! This past Monday, Blur.io, concluded its Season 2 Airdrop campaign, marking the end of a long ten months for those who participated. The NFT marketplace is now gearing up for its Season 3 Airdrop, offering traders and holders of $BLUR a fresh opportunity to get another injection of cash in 2024.
Season 2, which was originally intended to draw to a close in May of this year, allocated 300 million $BLUR tokens for traders who gained points through various activities like bidding, listing, and lending against NFTs on their platform. The anticipation of the airdrop led to an 80% increase in the $BLUR token’s price over the past month.
Time For Blast off?
Beyond the success of its NFT marketplace, Blur founder Pacman has introduced a new venture called Blast – an Ethereum layer-2 network designed to offer users the opportunity to earn “native yields.” Public reaction has been mixed to the introduction of this new platform, backed by such names as Paradigm, ByWassies, and StandardCrypto, with some excited by this new venture, and others raising concerns about the platform’s dynamics.
The bullish case for blast
Native Yields on ETH and Stablecoins: Unlike traditional layer-2 networks, Blast provides native yields on Ethereum and stablecoins. Users can start earning yields on transferred ether, coupled with BLAST points.
Automatic Compounding Mechanism: One of Blast’s standout features is its automatic compounding mechanism. Balances on the network not only grow over time, but also earn additional Blast rewards.
ETH Staking Participation: Blast natively participates in Ethereum staking, with staking rewards seamlessly transferred to users and decentralized applications on Layer 2.
Mainnet Launch and Early Access: While the mainnet launch is scheduled for February 2024, Blast is currently in its Early Access phase, operating on an invite-only basis. Users can accumulate rewards and Blast points ahead of the official launch.
Critics Have their say
However, despite the hype, it’s not been all smooth sailing for Pacman and co. Crypto entrepreneur, T3chman, expressed concerns about potential liquidity drainage, while NFTY Finance’s, Tytan, questioned Blast’s fairness and sustainability due to its invite-only system, drawing parallels to a pyramid scheme.
Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, highlighted Blast’s lack of a clear exit strategy, emphasizing potential risks associated with its multisig vault operation and unreleased Layer 2. Crypto developer Sisyphus pointed out Blast’s ‘bridge’ as a closed contract owned by a 5-person multisig, sparking concerns about transparency and decentralization.
However, in the face of this criticism, Blast has attracted substantial funding, with over $30 million in ETH and stablecoins bridged to the network mere hours after its launch.
Final Thoughts
Depending on who you ask, Blur’s Season 2 was either a roaring success or an abject failure. The jury is still out on that one! What is certain is that both Blur and Blast are in the early stages of their journey, and time must be given before making an objective decision.
The NFT market has been slowly awakening from its deep, cold slumber, and quite importantly, Blur not only survived that ice age but thrived in it, dethroning OpenSea as the number one marketplace for both NFT sales volume and innovation. Will Blast be just as much of a success? Time will tell, but if the achievements that Blur made are anything to go by, you wouldn’t bet against it.
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