Finding the most optimal NFT marketplace remains crucial for digital art enthusiasts. However, while OpenSea used to dominate the space, it no longer holds a position of power. Instead, it has become second fiddle to Blur, although it remains ahead of all other competitors.
Blur Continues To Dominate
Some people seem surprised to learn how Blur became the largest Ethereum-based NFT marketplace in the past year. That shouldn’t be so strange, as OpenSea held that position for far too long. However, the platform has many issues – especially regarding stolen items – and has slowly started losing market traction. On the upside, it has a meager wash trading volume, at just 2.33% of all transactions.
One must also consider OpenSea has tremendous volume. Since its inception, it has facilitated almost $33 billion in NFT trades. Moreover, it has generated over 27.62 million trades, of which 0.71% have been identified as wash trading activity. The statistics confirm OpenSea is a popular NFT marketplace, but it needs to maintain its overall momentum.
Blur, however, has become the new king of the hill. With $1.8 billion in total volume – and 11.75% wash trading – there is growing interest in that platform. However, the wash trading percentage is problematic, especially for a platform combining direct NFT trading with aggregation. However, under 2% of all trades are wash trades, indicating some nefarious activity. That is par for the course, although it shouldn’t be allowed to continue.
Today, Blur represents over 77% of the weekly NFT trading volume. A remarkable trend, although it equates to 52.7% of all trades. In addition, OpenSea still has more weekly traders than Blur, confirming there’s room for future growth. One contributing factor to both marketplaces’ success is having Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Otherdeed for Otherside liquidity. CryptoPunks has yet to make its way to Blur, as does Art Blocks Curated.
A New Small Competitor Emerges
Most people realize Ethereum has various other NFT marketplaces. While Blur has upset the balance of power with OpenSea, everything else is up for grabs. Blur’s growth has diminished OpenSea’s position – although the latter marketplace saw its volume drop off spectacularly since May 2022, other platforms haven’t seen much growth. However, one exception is Alpha Sharks, which notes some decent industry momentum.
The weekly number of trades confirms Alpha Sharks is today’s third-largest NFT marketplace. It inches ahead of Gem, X2Y2, Bitkeep, and others. However, the project has under $14.3 million in total volume. That gives it double the numbers of Uniswap’s NFT trading and over three times the volume of Rarible. Even so, overtaking Zora, Element, Reservoir, Sudoswap, Foundation, and Genie will be tricky.
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