Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles
Dear Bankless Nation,
SuperRareās $RARE, Ethereum Name Serviceās $ENS, and LooksRareās $LOOKS.Ā
These are some of the biggest NFT ecosystem airdrop events of all time.Ā
Notably, a new project joins their ranks today, which is the NFT marketplace Blur with its new governance token, $BLUR.Ā
Thereās a ton of activity surging around $BLUR right now, so letās get you up to speed on all the basics here!
-WMP
š Sponsor:Ā Kraken ā the most trusted and secure crypto exchange in the worldāØ
The $BLUR airdrop is finally here
Blur, the NFT marketplace aggregator thatās been rivaling OpenSea as of late, launched claims for its highly anticipated $BLUR airdrop today, Tuesday, February 14th.Ā
Why it matters: Blurās $BLUR launch is a strategy to actualize decentralized governance for its marketplace, and itās also a tactic to attract market share from rivals like OpenSea. The airdrop is the largest the NFT ecosystem has seen since early last year, and itās causing a renewed surge of attention and activity around NFTs accordingly.
Key addresses: There have been some fake $BLUR addresses floating around attempting to capitalize on the airdrop excitement. These will fade in visibility now that the real $BLUR token is live and on center stage, but regardless in these early days make sure youāre using and reviewing the authoritative smart contracts.Ā
$BLUR token address: 0x5283D291DBCF85356A21bA090E6db59121208b44
Airdrop smart contract: 0xf2d15c0a89428c9251d71a0e29b39ff1e86bce25
Tokenomics: The total supply of $BLUR is 3 billion tokens. The amount of airdrop tokens Blur just released to its community for claiming was 360 million $BLUR, or 12% of the total supply. 78% of the supply has been delivered to two of the teamās lockup smart contracts, while 9% of the remaining tokens will be controlled by a Blur multi-sig wallet. The team vesting will occur along this four-year schedule:
How to claim: Go to blur.io and click on the āAirdropā tab. Click and wait through the intro animations and Blur Season 1 stats and then open any Care Packages you have to claim (US users are geoblocked). Youāll have to send out a āI claimed $BLURā¦ā verification tweet to finalize your claim and then complete a transaction to receive the $BLUR in your wallet.
Airdrop activity has made ETH gas prices surge at the time of this postās writing, so feel free to claim your $BLUR later once gas calms down. Youāll have 60 days to complete your claim.Ā
Current price action: $BLURās initial price discovery on Uniswap this morning put it higher than $3 USD a pop, but huge immediate sell pressure pushed that price back down as low as $0.49 before it steadily began rebounding up once more. At press time, $BLUR was back trading around the $0.70 mark. Only time will tell what happens next though if previous NFT airdrops like $LOOKS and $X2Y2 are any indication, the $BLUR price may top out over the next 72 hours, at least for its first market cycle.Ā
Season 2 rewards: Many have speculated whether Blur would continue token incentives post-airdrop, and now such rewards have been confirmed as Blur has announced the arrival of its āSeason 2ā incentives.
As such, for the next 30 days Blur is doubling all bidding and listing points on its marketplace, so keep an eye on racking up points for future $BLUR rewards.Ā
The NFT marketplace wars: Right now $BLUR trading is extremely volatile, but current market activity is suggesting the tokenās market cap is around $253M USD. That places the token in the ballpark of the market caps of the similarly constructed $LOOKS and $X2Y2 tokens, although Blur has facilitated way more NFT trading volume than LooksRare and X2Y2 lately.Ā
Tomorrow, Iāll have an op-ed out in Bankless proper about how Blur might convert its initial momentum into winning out over its competitors, including the NFT juggernaut OpenSea. Keep an eye out for that. Of course, a definitive Blur win is far from guaranteed and wonāt be easy, but Blurās got a fighting chance and the launch of $BLUR is a big strategic and tactical step in that direction. Whatever happens, itāll be fascinating to see how the marketplace wars shake up from here.
Action steps
Claim your airdrop: if you followed my Bid for Blur guide you should have $BLUR to claim on Blur šŖ
Check out my previous write-up if you missed it: The Blooming NFT Landscape š
Author Bio
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversalāa Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. Heās also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!
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Not financial or tax advice.Ā This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure.Ā From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See ourĀ investment disclosures here.
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