Blur to Shut Down NFT Marketplace After Explosion

Once the dominant NFT marketplace on Ethereum, Blur is shutting down its website and NFT lending services just ten days after its sister project Blast announced its own shutdown.

What’s the scoop?

• Stop blurring: In a announcement MondayBlur announced that it would take down its website on November 12, although its underlying NFT marketplace remains operational on-chain. The BLUR token will also retain control over the protocol’s fee change, which determines whether the market can charge trading fees.

• End of NFT loan: Blur’s NFT lending platform, Blend, stop matching new loans on November 12. Existing borrowers must repay their loans by then or let them default, with Blur then promising a separate tool to help users cash out their remaining assets.

• Trading volume collapses: Launched in 2022, Blur quickly overtook OpenSea, capturing more than 70% of Ethereum NFT transaction volume in March 2023, when it processed approximately $1.43 billion in transactions. By March 2026, this figure had fallen below $7 million, a collapse of more than 99.5%. Despite billions in trading volume, its fee-free marketplace generated no trading fee revenue.

• Explosion shutdown: The news comes just ten days later the stop of Ethereum L2 Blast, also led by Blur founder Pacman, citing operating costs exceeding revenue. The network, which once attracted more than $2.3 billion in deposits, has given users until October 26 to withdraw through its regular interface.