Decentral Block Post

Blur, a NFT marketplace, has seen its trading volumes and total sell-side liquidity skyrocket since conducting an airdrop on Feb. 14, 2023. The reason for the spike could be the start of season 2 airdrops, where 10% of BLUR token’s total supply will be distributed to certain users based on their activity. The team allocated 12% toward an early user airdrop in the first season that ran from the marketplace’s gated launch in March 2022 to February 2023.

Blur has made a significant dent in OpenSea’s position as the leading marketplace. Analytics from data scientist Hildobby shows that Blur is eating into the market share of OpenSea and other aggregators like X2Y2. Blur's incentive program and advanced NFT trading features are causing users to shift from OpenSea to Blur.

OpenSea feels the heat 

Following Blur’s example, OpenSea discontinued its marketplace fee of 2.5% per sale. The fact that OpenSea LLC was willing to let go a significant chunk of its earnings—close to around $336.8 million for one year—suggests that Blur’s growth threatens it.

The two NFT giants also recently locked horns on the critical issue recently of creator royalties. By restricting the ability to earn full creator royalties on both platforms, creators have to choose between Blur and OpenSea to list collections.

Pacman, the founder of Blur, told Cointelegraph on Feb. 23 that OpenSea started the spat first. They were forced to retaliate with restrictive features like limited royalties on Blur if a collection is also listed on OpenSea as well. However, ideally, he would want both creators to be able to earn their royalties on both platforms without having to choose. It appears that Pacman wants OpenSea to succumb to the competition and instead of fighting Blur, it should accommodate the aggregator progressively.

Blur, a NFT marketplace, has seen its trading volumes and total sell-side liquidity skyrocket since conducting an airdrop on Feb. 14, 2023. The reason for the spike could be the start of season 2 airdrops, where 10% of BLUR token’s total supply will be distributed to certain users based on their activity. The team allocated 12% toward an early user airdrop in the first season that ran from the marketplace’s gated launch in March 2022 to February 2023.

Blur has made a significant dent in OpenSea’s position as the leading marketplace. Analytics from data scientist Hildobby shows that Blur is eating into the market share of OpenSea and other aggregators like X2Y2. Blur's incentive program and advanced NFT trading features are causing users to shift from OpenSea to Blur.

OpenSea feels the heat 

Following Blur’s example, OpenSea discontinued its marketplace fee of 2.5% per sale. The fact that OpenSea LLC was willing to let go a significant chunk of its earnings—close to around $336.8 million for one year—suggests that Blur’s growth threatens it.

The two NFT giants also recently locked horns on the critical issue recently of creator royalties. By restricting the ability to earn full creator royalties on both platforms, creators have to choose between Blur and OpenSea to list collections.

Pacman, the founder of Blur, told Cointelegraph on Feb. 23 that OpenSea started the spat first. They were forced to retaliate with restrictive features like limited royalties on Blur if a collection is also listed on OpenSea as well. However, ideally, he would want both creators to be able to earn their royalties on both platforms without having to choose. It appears that Pacman wants OpenSea to succumb to the competition and instead of fighting Blur, it should accommodate the aggregator progressively.

Bitcoin (BTC) headed toward $24,000 at the Feb. 27 Wall Street open as a strong weekly close translated into further gains.

Bitcoin gains $1,000 versus weekend lows

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD rebounding in line with United States equities futures.

The pair had seen lows of $22,770 on Bitstamp over the weekend, these nonetheless proving short lived as the weekly candle closed above $23,500.

With stocks rebuilding strength into the new week, hopes were high that Bitcoin could continue its upward trajectory to finish February on a high.

“Rejecting at crucial $23.8K level would indicate that we´ll be having another test of the support,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, wrote in part of a Twitter update on the day.

Bitcoin (BTC) keeps pushing for a bullish end to February as the monthly close starts another week’s price action.

The largest cryptocurrency looks set to preserve its gains as it closes the second month of 2023 — and is keeping bulls’ hopes alive in the process.

Can the good times continue? The coming week could mean decision time for a key area of BTC price action around $25,000.

Analysts are eyeing a breakout toward $30,000 if support can become more permanent, while concerns nonetheless remain that a trip back towards resistance reclaimed in January is still on the cards.

Amid a quiet week for macroeconomic data, any catalysts for determining whether BTC/USD goes up or down may come from within Bitcoin itself.