- Blur recently overtook OpenSea to become the leading NFT marketplace in monthly volumes.
- There is an ongoing royalty war between the two NFT marketplaces.
Non-fungible marketplace OpenSea is reducing its fees to 0% for a limited time, seeking to counter a rising competition in the sector, which recently saw it relinquish the top spot as the largest NFT platform to rival Blur. At press time, analytics firm DappRadar ranked Blur at the top with – monthly transaction volumes of $65 million – compared to OpenSea’s $14 million.
OpenSea is also seeking to boost creators’ earnings to reduce outflows. In theTwitter thread, the company said Saturday that it was ‘‘moving to a minimum 0.5% creator earnings model, with the option for sellers to pay more. That, it added, applies to all collections that do not use on-chain enforcement.’’
Royalty Wars Between Blur And OpenSea
There is also an ongoing royalty war between the two NFT platforms, something the crypto community has welcomed as good for the industry’s growth. OpenSea acknowledged this, saying it needed more to maintain its dominance.
‘‘Recent events, including Blur’s decision to roll back creator earnings (even on filtered collections) and the false choice they are forcing creators to make between liquidity on Blue or OpenSea – prove that our attempts are not working,’’ the platform said, noting that the marketplace’s current royalty policy prevents collections from being able to earn royalties everywhere. Blur has been keen to showcase the difference in its royalty payments to that of OpenSea.
Even as OpenSea seeks to reclaim its lost glory, the crypto community speculates that the company could increase its marketplace fees once it manages to bring back the lost customers, currently testing models and searching for what works well for its users.
