Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are an exciting, emerging technology that has been changing the landscape of cryptocurrency in recent months. With increased mainstream attention, NFTs have seen a massive boom, leading to the development of several new digital marketplaces—but two really stand out: Blur and OpenSea. In this article, we’ll be comparing Blur vs OpenSea side-by-side so you can determine which is best for trading your digital assets.
What Is Blur?
Blur is one of the most popular non-fungible asset trading and NFT aggregator platforms in recent times. The marketplace launched in October 2022 and has been making headlines ever since for all the right reasons.
First, Blur’s marketplace focuses on providing NFT creators with a means to earn royalties without compromise. Previously, tracking royalties on-chain was a significant challenge. Most traders would acquire zero-royalty options, aggregate them on aggregator tools like Gem, and profit heavily without assigning monetary benefits to the collection’s creators.
However, Blur found a way to incentivize NFT collectors to honor royalties without compromising their profit margins. The platform created a royalty feature that allows NFT traders on Blur to add royalties to their listed NFT, even on platforms where they initially didn’t adhere to royalties. In exchange, Blur rewards traders who honor royalty agreements with Blur airdrops in the form of care packages, and the more royalties the trader lists, the bigger their care package.
In the most recent Blur airdrop, Blur set aside 360 million Blur, equivalent to at least $385 million, to be distributed in care packages. This means active Blur traders and creators would benefit from a massive BLUR token injection in their accounts, resulting in a surge in market capitalization and trade volume.
Blur’s Key Features
Besides offering a solution to the NFT royalty loophole, Blur has many other outstanding features. The platform lets NFT traders analyze and trade multiple NFTs from different marketplaces simultaneously. Here are other key features that Blur users enjoy.
Sweeps
These are Blur’s leading key features. Sweeps allow pro-traders to sample multiple NFT projects at once and purchase collections at their floor prices. Blur’s sweep feature uses real-time data analysis across NFT markets.
It also has snipe reveals that allow traders to identify the best NFT floors to sweep before the assets’ prices skyrocket. Buying NFTs in bulk benefits traders because it reduces associated transaction costs and allows them to maximize profits in the long run.
Listing Options
Aside from sweeps, Blur offers advanced NFT analytics listing options that simplify trading, especially for NFT whales and high-spending traders. Options like floor prices, ladder lists, and trait floor prices allow traders to easily analyze and manage their portfolios.
While managing their portfolios, Blur users can also view the portfolio activity of any other wallet on the platform, allowing them to gauge their efforts against leading competitors. This gives traders insights into how much they need to spend to outdo the competition, making the platform highly competitive.
Speed
Blur has also invested heavily in fast speeds. The platform allegedly offers batch minting options that are ten times faster than those on Gem, a popular OpenSea NFT aggregator. It has faster transaction processing and offers updates on real-time price feeds every four seconds, which is advantageous for sniping.
What Is OpenSea?
OpenSea has, for the longest time, been the leading NFT marketplace. Since its launch in 2017, this platform has allowed users to easily access leading NFT collections like CryptoKitties. However, it has since expanded its digital asset portfolio to accommodate art-related non-fungible tokens, Crypto gaming NFTs, music NFTs, and domain name NFTs.
To facilitate these digital asset transactions, OpenSea uses smart contracts. These make it possible for the platform to handle trades on its own, prove ownership of NFTs, and set the terms of trade. Besides being a trading platform, OpenSea is known for its NFT aggregator services, which are offered through Gem. Gem is an NFT aggregation tool that allows users to compare and execute NFT trades across multiple trading platforms effectively.
OpenSea Key Features
OpenSea has various features that have earned it its top spot as an NFT trading platform. Let’s explore these key features.
NFT Minting
Aside from buying and selling NFTs, the OpenSea marketplace is a platform where NFT enthusiasts can mint NFTs. Minting is the process of registering a particular digital asset on the blockchain. It is beneficial to mint NFTs because it proves their ownership, scarcity, and rarity, which are essential factors to consider when buying an NFT.
OpenSea’s NFT minting feature allows users to pay a subsidized one-time fee to get their digital assets listed on the blockchain. It also provides a lazy minting option where the NFT creator can only pay the fee once a buyer purchases it. This ensures users don’t spend money listing an NFT that won’t trade.
NFT Gifting
OpenSea users can send their friends NFT gifts. With the platform’s gifting feature, you can buy an NFT and send it to a friend on the platform digitally. If your loved one isn’t on OpenSea but has an ETH account, it’s possible to send them the gift directly through their ETH address, which will get it in their wallet.
Blur vs. OpenSea: Which Is a Better NFT Marketplace?
| Blur | OpenSea | |
|---|---|---|
| NFT Trading Volume | $79.35 million | $14.01 million |
| Supported Blockchains | Ethereum | Ethereum Solana Polygon Avalanche Arbitrum |
| Transaction Fees | Zero trading fees 0.5% royalties | Zero trading fees for a limited time |
| Safety | In-built escrow system Two-factor authentication | URL scanner Two-factor authentication |
| Ease of Use | Best for seasoned traders | Best for beginners |
Now let’s compare Blur and OpenSea side by side to find out which one is better.
NFT Trading Volume
An NFT marketplace’s trading volume is a distinct indicator of the platform’s value. Trading volume implicitly indicates how much traders are investing on the platform. The more traders channel funds through the marketplace, the greater its trading volume. As an NFT trader, you should often consider trading in a marketplace with high trade volume.
According to data from DappRadar, Blur’s trading volume is at an all-time high, hitting values of $79.35 million.
On the other hand, OpenSea’s trade volume stands at $14.01 million. This value pales in comparison to Blur’s figures, but the platform has been around for over five years, indicating stability. Nevertheless, it is currently trading at lower sums, and if Blur’s popularity persists, these volumes could get even lower.
Winner: Blur
Supported blockchains
When choosing an NFT marketplace, it is crucial to consider which blockchain it is built on and any other blockchains it supports. Blockchains are essential for NFT marketplaces because most NFTs are blockchain specific. You can only transfer NFTs from blockchain A to blockchain B if you can find a marketplace that supports both chains.
Blur is built on the Ethereum network and only supports the Ethereum blockchain. This is okay because many NFTs are Ethereum-compatible. However, it still limits non-Ethereum tokens.
OpenSea also runs on Ethereum but supports multiple other blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Klaytn, Optimsm, and the BNB chain. The fact that OpenSea supports all these mainstream blockchains makes it a more convenient NFT marketplace than Blur.
Winner: OpenSea
Transaction Fees
NFT marketplaces may or may not have transaction fees. This depends on the platform’s underlying blockchain, revenue generation strategies, and prevailing market conditions.
Blur charges zero transaction fees to its traders. The only thing they have to do is pay at least 0.5% in royalties to the NFT creators. These payments, however, earn them points that can be converted into BLUR tokens during airdrops, so essentially the money comes back to them.
On the other hand, OpenSea used to charge a transaction fee for all trades made on the platform. However, with Blur’s new-found popularity, OpenSea announced that it had removed all transaction fees, but only for a limited period. Additionally, it has introduced a 0.5% royalty policy. So, the two platforms draw in transaction fees.
Winner: Tie
Safety
Safety is a critical consideration when selecting an NFT marketplace. You want a platform with tight security protocols that prevent malicious activity on your account. Additionally, you need to find a platform that thoroughly vets the NFT collections it lists to protect its users against NFT scams.
Blur’s most promising security feature is its in-built escrow system. This feature ensures that funds are only released when buyers confirm that they have received the collections and that they are legitimate. This significantly prevents fraud and scams on the platform.
Security on OpenSea is also tight, and several measures are taken to ensure the platform’s integrity. One of these is a URL scanner, which identifies URLs with malicious behaviors like wallet draining and signature farming. The marketplace also has features that prevent the sale of pirated NFTs, copyright infringement, and NFT scams.
However, despite its intense efforts to prevent security breaches, OpenSea has been the subject of multiple hacks. Many argue that this results from being the largest NFT marketplace and having a more extended market presence and that newer platforms like Blur will experience the same if they stay longer in the market. This may be true, but currently, Blur has a clear security record. Unless this changes, Blur will remain a more secure platform than OpenSea.
Winner: Blur
Ease of Use
The easier an NFT marketplace is to maneuver, the better it is for users. So, you should look for NFT trading platforms with an easy-to-use interface, clear user guides, and features that are easy to use.
Blur is an NFT trading platform and aggregator designed for professional users. The platform has complex analytics features and a rather complex user interface. Even though these might make it easier for experienced traders to trade NFTs, they might make it harder for new traders.
OpenSea, on the other hand, has a simple graphical user interface that makes it easy to find collections and trade them. The analytics tools are relatively easy to use because most complex analysis happens on a different aggregator platform, Gem. This makes the platform more user-friendly than Blur.
Winner: OpenSea
Where Should You Trade NFTs: Blur or OpenSea?
OpenSea has built an impressive reputation over the years as one of the biggest NFT marketplaces. The platform has remarkable features like NFT minting and gifting. It supports multiple mainstream blockchains and is exceptionally user-friendly. However, it has compromised security and lower trading volumes.
Blur, on the other hand, has higher trading volumes, zero security breaches, and does not charge users any transaction fees. It may have a more complex interface and professional-level analysis features, but these only enhance its services for high-volume traders and NFT whales. OpenSea has long been the best NFT marketplace, but Blur may be taking its place.
FAQs
Blur vs OpenSea: Which is better?
Both Blur and OpeanSea are great NFT marketplaces. Blur has impressive trading volumes, hasn’t experienced any security breaches, and has zero transaction fees. It may, however, be overwhelming for beginners because of its professional-level analysis features.
OpenSea, on the other hand, has a stunning reputation and impressive features like NFT minting and gifting. It also supports multiple mainstream blockchains and is highly user-friendly. However, it has somewhat compromised security, and its trading volumes aren’t as high.
How much do I need to trade on Blur?
Blur has zero transaction fees. However, you need to pay at least 0.5% in royalties for every NFT you purchase. In exchange, you will earn royalty points to make you eligible for future airdrops, if any.
What wallets can I use on Blur?
Blur supports several wallets, including MetaMask, Wallet Connect, and Coinbase Wallet. However, the best wallet to use on Blur is MetaMask. This wallet is easy to use and works with a number of decentralized apps and platforms that you might need when trading.
