Blur to Close Website in November as Some NFT Collectors Applaud
Blur plans to shut down its website on Nov. 12 while keeping its onchain marketplace open. Its Blend protocol will stop matching new perpetual NFT loans, and borrowers must repay outstanding loans by that date or let them default. Some NFT collectors welcomed the move and criticized Blur’s role in the decline of creator royalties.
Blur said its site will go dark on Nov. 12, though its onchain marketplace is set to keep operating. Blend, its peer-to-peer perpetual NFT lending service, will no longer match new loans; existing borrowers face repayment by that date or default. A planned interface should let users withdraw assets afterward.
The platform debuted in October 2022 with seller-set royalties and token incentives tied to higher royalty payments, helping it lead NFT trading volume by 2023. Nansen data cited typical creator royalty rates falling to 0.6% in July 2023 from 2.5% in 2022. NFT sales also cooled sharply, with September volume at $167 million versus $6 billion in January 2022.
The shutdown may mainly affect NFT borrowers and active Blur users, who could face repayment deadlines or defaults, while collectors critical of the platform may see it as symbolic. Creators could continue feeling the earlier royalty decline, though the onchain marketplace’s survival may soften disruption. More broadly, the episode may reinforce caution about relying on centralized frontends and lending features in volatile digital-asset markets.