Blur 'Blasts' Into SZN3
Blur 'Blasts' Into SZN3
A $100M airdrop just hit the ecosystem, but half of it may already be spoken for. Find out everything that happened with the Blur airdrop and their major new company launch.
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's top news:
Blur SZN2 ends with $100M airdrop; SZN3 begins with new incentives
$BLUR at $0.36 in bullish unlock event
Pacman launches Blast L2, already nearly $50M bridged
SEC sues Kraken in line with Coinbase, Binance
Binance may face just $4B to settle criminal case
🎁 A $100M Airdrop, SZN3 and A New Company
Many were hoping for a surprise out of Pacman Blur and the Blur team at the end of SZN2.
Well, they got it.
Last night (albeit about 1 hour late), the Blur team made their blockbuster announcement.
It had 3 major components:
Blur SZN2 airdrop was claimable
SZN2 has begun (with slightly different incentives)
Pacman has launched a new company and L2 called Blast
Let's dig into each one.
Blur SZN2 Airdrop
Over 300M tokens were allocated making this a $100M+ airdrop for Blur farmers.
The token is not eligible to be claimed in the US, and traders have 45 days to claim.
Full data sets aren't out yet, but anecdotally, folks are reporting receiving anywhere from $1.50-$4.50 per point. That range depended on the type of farming activity, loyalty score and more.
Notably, top farmer Hanwe received 22.85M tokens (~$7.2M), an incredible payday.
$BLUR briefly fell 10% post-claim but has since rallied 20% off the bottom, at $0.36 this morning (more on this below).
The team also shared some eye-popping stats from its SZN2:
$6.1B trading volume
260,165 unique users
65% avg market share
It became the #1 ETH marketplace and the #1 NFT lending protocol.
A strong year for the Blur team - but they aren't stopping here.
Blur SZN3 Begins
Guess what - another airdrop is coming.
And after crypto and NFT X saw the size of airdrop some traders received, this one is going to receive attention.
Here are some highlights for SZN3:
The airdrop is powered by and coming from Pacman's new company Blast L2
SZN3 will last 6 months (so May 20, 2024 target end date)
The airdrop is split 50-50 between $BLUR holders and NFT traders
One key here is that the airdrop is coming from Blast and not Blur, meaning its size can't be as easily predicted.
The other key - it's split between $BLUR holders and traders.
So conceptually NFT trading is less incentivized than in prior seasons as the rewards pool will be split with those who simply stake $BLUR.
It's a brilliant move to keep $BLUR from tanking as more and more tokens unlock each month (and after this massive influx after SZN2).
For those interested in farming via NFT trading, a few changes:
No more 2x points (all collections weighted the same)
Loyalty score decreases for providing liquidity to AMMs like Flooring
Half as many lending points as bidding points (equal in SZN2)
Less emphasis on trait bids
Listing points back on the table, also helping with loyalty score
It will be very interesting to see these new incentives play out in the market. In theory, farming should no longer concentrate on just a few high-volume sets (i.e. BAYC and MAYC).
And listing incentives could very well lead to thicker floors (harder to make large up moves).
But it all might be minor if market participants simply plan to send their ETH over to Blast.
Pacman Launches Blast
Pacman teed up the launch of his new company Blast with an X thread, with this leading comment:
Two of the biggest opportunities we see for NFTs are reducing transaction costs and institutional-grade NFT perps. Hundreds of millions have been spent on gas trading NFTs, and perp volume is 6x bigger than spot. These opportunities require an L2.
So he's launching an L2 called Blast with native yield (APR for held tokens like ETH, USDC, etc.)
His vision is for the L2 to support a range of dapps, including perps, dexes, lending, NFTs and even SocialFi.
Blur intends to build L2 apps for NFTs on Blast (i.e. Perps), and it will be funded with $40M that Pacman raised in addition to his Blast funding. They'll continue building on ETH as well.
So what is Blast exactly?
It's an Ethereum L2 with native yield for ETH and stablecoins.
It uses an auto-compounder, compounding interest yield with Blast rewards on top.
By bridging crypto into Blast, the team natively deposits it into existing protocols like MakerDAO and passes the yield back to Blast users via its auto-rebasing stablecoin USDB.
Why use Blast?
Well, incentives.
The team is offering 4% for ETH and 5% on stablecoins ahead of mainnet launch in February 2024.
And early access members get Blast points based on how much they bridge, and how many people they invite (and how much they bridge).
So yield + Blast points, ahead of another airdrop likely coming in May 2024.
The downside?
Any deposited crypto is locked until Feb 2024 when the mainnet goes live.
Plus depositing requires some significant faith in the team and the protocol, something not everyone has.
Conclusion
The announcement has certainly come with some mixed reactions.
Some are praising Pacman's vision and leadership. Others are calling it just another crypto ponzi.
The reality is likely a combination of both.
Pacman is trying to solve real problems with the launch of Blast. He's also using a lot of ponzinomics to drive usage.
Will users actually go for Blast? Absolutely, we're already seeing deposits in droves and competition to jump up the leaderboard.
There's simply too much money at stake, and those who missed the SZN2 airdrop don't want to miss this one.
My take - Blast will attract a lot of money and this will be a crowded farm. There may be more opportunities on the L1, via trading (perhaps less crowded).
My other takeaway - while the launch of Blast is great, there's no development on Blur.
What about the idea map, including Art Blocks, ERC-1155s, and other new features?
Perhaps those have been temporarily shelved while they focus on features for the L2.
Hopefully, we find out soon.
Overall, this feels like a massive win for Pacman and Blur.
The token is up, sentiment is up, and users are flocking to Blast.
Love him or hate him, Pacman is quickly approaching "Mount Rushmore" status for web3 founders.
👥 Friend Tech Trend Tracker
It was another bloody in Friend Tech after a major shift from the team.
TVL fell another 10% to $30.5M (15.2k ETH) as the mass exodus continued.
The drivers?
Two things:
the team changed points this week to be based on number of votes received on global posts
the launch of Blur SZN3 and Blast
In theory, points for votes is fine. The problem is that it was a massive change for those who had constructed portfolios to farm, leading to mass selloffs.
And the votes can also be gamed/sybilled as those with the highest key prices get the most votes and can self-vote.
With a new farm in town with a more proven track record, it's hard to see FT holding up against Blast.
But perhaps that will make a better opportunity and a less crowded farm - time will tell.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
Trading volume jumped to $12.1M on Monday, though the leaderboard was heavily red
Nouns led top movers, moving 69% to a 40 ETH floor; Parallel Avatars and The Grapes also led notable movers
A fresh wallet swept 2 Fidenzas, 8 Anticyclones and 10 Life in West America NFTs, driving up the floors of all 3
Opepen Set 28 "Stepepen" revealed and saw sales as high as 2.5 ETH (for an x/4) before settling at 0.8 ETH
SquiggleDAO announced a new mint "Elevate Heart," in collaboration with Daniel Calderon Arenas and Snowfro, coming on Nov 27
FIAT® is collaborating with Zealy on Arbitrum for the launch of the exclusive FIAT® Pass, a new NFT airdrop happening today at 11 am ET; 55k will be available for those on the whitelist, fcfs
Wolf Game announced "The Shepherd's Cup," a contest of peak game champions with $WOOL prizes, with more details to come
Wasabi is launching a Perps product on testnet next week, in partnership with Flooring Protocol
Nike x RTFKT Dunks are now available for pre-order at $222 a pair
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
The crypto market chopped on the day; BTC even at $37,200; ETH -0.4% at $2,010; SOL -6.75% at $56.30
The SEC announced a lawsuit against Kraken, similar to others filed against Coinbase and Binance
Binance is reportedly going to owe the U.S. Government $4B to settle its criminal case, a very positive outcome for the giant if indeed this is the sole consequence
Parallel co-founder Kalos teased a mobile version of the game, sending the token briefly over $8.20 before setting at $7.27
Phantom released a cross-chain swapping feature, allowing users to easily bridge assets between Ethereum, Polygon and Solana in-wallet
Illuvium is coming to the Epic Games store on Nov. 28, news which sent its token up 10% to $105 and +150% on the month
ALTAVA Group is partnering with Darewise Entertainment to integrate its AI-powered platform for digital wearables into the Life Beyond game and upcoming Bitcoin Metaverse ecosystem
Web3 Foundation is launching its decentralized Futures Program for the Polkadot ecosystem, backed by a $45M fund
🚀 NFT Total Volume
MAYC (867 ETH, 4.97 ETH Floor)
BAYC (760 ETH, 27.25 ETH)
Pudgy Penguins (345 ETH, 5.4 ETH)
DeGods (293 ETH, 3 ETH)
Azuki (233 ETH, 5.48 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
Yogapetz (85%, 0.47 ETH Floor)
DigiDaigaku Heroes (27%, 0.89 ETH)
Blockgames Dice (26%, 0.29 ETH)
Moonbirds Mythics (21%, 0.15 ETH)
Neo Tokyo Outer Citizens (14%, 2.63 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is another busy day of drops in a short holiday week.
The highlight is definitely PROOF's Herbert Franke drop "Zentrum". Herbert's "Math Art" collection now has a 10 ETH floor, and today's auction starts at 5 ETH and ends at 0.5. If it goes low and under the radar, this could be a nice win.
See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
PROOF x Herbert Franke "Zentrum" (12:00 p.m. ET)
Ves3l x Verse (12:00 p.m. ET)
Killabears - Bearington's Burn Market (6:00 p.m. eT)
Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.