NFT Review 80 - OpenSea vs Blur

RMRK sponsor zkSync hackathon, $BLUR airdrop, OpenSea goes controversial, and more.

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Feb 27, 2023

NFT Review is a weekly newsletter covering NFTs in the Web3 ecosystem on Polkadot’s side of the woods. The newsletter is put together by Bruno Škvorc and gbaci.
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Dear NFT enthusiast,

In the fast-paced world of NFTs, drama is never far away. The latest episode comes in the form of a power struggle between two of the biggest NFT marketplaces - OpenSea and Blur. The conflict began when Blur chose to make paying creator royalties optional, making them the first Ethereum marketplace to do so. OpenSea was planning to follow suit but backed down after facing community backlash, including from Yuga Labs, the owner/creator of some of the most successful NFT collections.

Following this, OpenSea decided to enforce creator royalties and block other marketplaces that did not honor them. This move put Blur at a disadvantage, as the platform had made creator royalties optional. However, Blur eventually responded by circumventing OpenSea's blocklist and even used censorship against OpenSea. Then came Blur’s ‘successful’ airdrop of $BLUR tokens to its ‘loyal’ traders, prompting OpenSea to respond with a controversial announcement–it would now drop its marketplace fees to 0% and cut creator royalty protections, essentially accepting Blur’s terms.

The impact of Blur's strategy and the response from OpenSea could have far-reaching implications for the future of the NFT market. While this move may initially be welcomed by buyers and investors, it has raised concerns among creators who rely on royalties as their primary source of income. We are yet to get a response from top NFT creators like Yuga Labs, and it will be interesting to see how this war unfolds.

Thank you for reading and have a great week.

— NFT Review

📬 NFT News from Kusama & Polkadot

RMRK sponsors zkSync Hackathon.
- RMRK announced that it will be attending ETH Denver 2023.
- RMRK published a breakdown of the trading stats for RMRK Profile Banners.
- RMRK published detailed analytics of the top holders of RMRK NFTs.
Evrloot released new updates on what to expect from the next iteration of the RPG game.
- Evrloot will be hosting a Twitter Space with RMRK founder Bruno Skvorc.
Singular is hosting an Artist Roundtable on Feb 28 with RMRK’s new Artist Advocate.
Enjin said goodbye to Bitcoin Hodler, one of the first blockchain games.
Bit.Country hosted a Twitter Space Business Opportunities in the Metaverse.

🗞 NFT News from Ethereum and Beyond

Luxor Mining acquires OrdinalHub amid Bitcoin-based NFTs hype.
Binance to bring fans closer to sports teams with fan token platform.
Yuga Labs accused of IP theft for trademarking BAYC wolf skull logo.
YouTube appoints Web3-friendly exec as new CEO.
eBay NFT platform KnownOrigin launches creator smart contract.
Blur founder ‘Pacman’ revealed as 24-year-old high school, MIT dropout.
NBA Top Shot NFTs are ‘plausibly’ securities, judge rules in Dapper Labs lawsuit.
Uniswap traders can now buy NFTs with UNI, SHIB or any Ethereum token.
Friendsies ‘rug pull’ NFT holders—could the community take over?
DraftKings tees up PGA tour NFT fantasy golf game.
OpenSea drops fees, cuts creator royalty protections as rival Blur rises.
GQ joins list of legacy media outlets boarding NFT bandwagon.
NBA Top Shot will let users buy NFTs via Apple and Android mobile apps.
Collab.Land is launching a $COLLAB airdrop to NFT users and communities.
Nouns DAO has added two new payment functionalities to its treasury system.
Quix, the first NFT marketplace on Optimism, open-sourced its marketplace stack.
Rarible launched a Tezos-based NFT marketplace aggregator.
Centre Pompidou, a major French public museum, acquired 18 NFTs by acclaimed cryptoartists.
Cozomo de Medici donated 22 cryptoart works to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Napster acquired Polygon-based music NFT platform, Mint Songs.
XCOPY is publishing his final pieces on the SuperRare Shared Contract.
Axie Infinity community members are voting on the creation of the first Lunacian Flag.
Decentraland DAO published its January 2023 community update.
Caviar, an NFT AMM, is now open to the public.
DeFiLlama added support for Cyan and ParaSpace to its NFT loan aggregator service.
Luke Cannon published a thread on how to optimize your $BLUR Season 2 rewards strategy.
Manifold introduced a new burn redeem app.

That’s all for this week, see you in the next edition! Got some links to share with us, artists to feature, NFTs to sell, jobs to promote, or events to popularize? Get in touch with Bruno or gbaci!