NFT: Magic Eden Overtakes Blur As The Leading NFT Marketplace In March

In March, Magic Eden, a Solana- based marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), achieved its highest monthly trading volume. This fit marked a significant milestone as Magic Eden surpassed the leading industry platform, Blur. Below are more details from the report. 

NFT Marketplace Reports From CoinGecko

According to CoinGecko’s Q1 2024 report, which was released on April 17, their NFT trade volume skyrocketed 194.4% to $756.5 million in March, while Blur only slightly grew to $530.4 million.

According to CoinGecko, Magic Eden‘s rise up the ranks was in part facilitated by its recently implemented Diamond reward program. There is also its ongoing collaboration with Yuga Labs — this occurred during the NFT studio’s breakup with NFT marketplaces that weren’t paying creator royalties. 

Magic Eden boosted its trade volume for the sixth straight month.

Inside NFT Marketplace Spotlight 

For the first time since OKX’s NFT marketplace took advantage of the Bitcoin Ordinals craze in December, Blur has been surpassed as the most popular NFT marketplace by trade volume in March.

When Blur overtook OpenSea in February 2023, it had been the leader in trading volumes for ten consecutive months. 

Nevertheless, OKX’s trading volume has plummeted to $180 million, a 73.3% decrease since December, as a result of the company losing a significant portion of the Bitcoin NFT trading volume to rivals like Magic Eden and UniSat.

In Q1 2024, OKX had the third-highest NFT trading volume; in spite of this, Solana-based Tensor, and OpenSea completed the top five. In the meantime, NFT trading volumes increased by 51.6% from Q4 2023 to $4.7 billion in Q1 2024 across the top 10 marketplaces.

In spite of the increase, top NFT collectibles like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Clubs have seen their floor prices fall by more than 64% and 91%, respectively, since their peaks in May 2022 and October 2021. 

NFT Enforcement Of Creative Royalties 

In recent times, a major issue between NFT marketplaces and studios has been the enforcement of creative royalties.

In August last year, OpenSea, which was previously the top NFT marketplace, controversially closed its on-chain royalty enforcement tool. Devin Finzer, the CEO of the company, expressed disappointment over the tool’s lack of success and said rivals like Blur, Dew, and LooksRare were using the Seaport Protocol to get around OpenSea’s blacklist and avoid paying creator fees. However, OpenSea changed its mind on this early this month, allowing for the use of the ERC-721C programmable earnings standard.

Takeaways

Magic Eden’s recent climb to the top of the NFT marketplace clearly indicates a change in the non-fungible token environment. This is consistent with the NFT industry’s dynamic and ever-changing nature. No doubt, the non-fungible tokens market is expected to see more competitive and creative innovations in the future.