Blur, an upstart NFT marketplace, has stormed into the NFT game with zero fees and a native token (BLUR) that can be earned by trading NFTs. This fresh approach to the NFT market has seen Blur surpass OpenSea in trading volume, pushing NFT volumes overall. Some Blur users may have been buying NFTs from themselves and selling them to themselves to earn airdrop points.
Blur Pushes NFT Volumes: But Is Wash Trading Involved?
The recent surge in NFT trading volume, largely driven by the Blur.io NFT marketplace, has sparked a debate: is it organic growth, or is wash trading artificially inflating the numbers?
The Rise of Blur
Blur, with its innovative tokenized trading rewards and zero-royalty transactions, quickly gained traction. However, this incentive structure also opened the door to potential exploitation.
Wash Trading Concerns
Unfortunately, CoinGecko, the popular NFT data aggregator, has spotted suspicious activity and market manipulation “NFT Wash Trade” in the Blur NFT marketplace. Following the announcement of its token incentive, Blur saw a steep rise in wash trading as users tried to boost their allocation of the upcoming token airdrop, according to Dune. Some Blur users may have been engaging in this practice, buying and selling NFTs to themselves to accumulate Blur tokens (BLUR) and earn airdrop points.
CryptoSlam is following the situation closely. In an email to subscribers on Friday, CryptoSlam explained the decision to filter out a large chunk of the recent Blur trading data. The platform said that about 1% of high-value NFT traders are driving the majority of trading volume on Blur lately, flipping NFTs at a rapid rate in an effort to generate trading rewards.
Data Confirms Suspicion
Leading NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam claimed that 80.5% of sales volume on NFT marketplace Blur since February 14 has been wash trading. CryptoSlam is reporting extremely high percentages of wash trading. More than half of last year’s NFT trading volumes on Ethereum were attributable to wash traders trying to boost profits through the illusion of increased value.
The Implications of Wash Trading
Wash trading creates a false impression of market demand and value, potentially misleading investors and distorting the true picture of the NFT ecosystem. The extent to which wash trading is present on Blur, and its impact on overall NFT market health, remains a topic of ongoing debate and investigation.