- The highly anticipated BLUR token airdrop from NFT marketplace Blur was recently held, with over 360 million BLUR tokens up for grabs.
- The top trader in the airdrop snagged over $1.9 million worth of BLUR tokens.
- BLUR tokens have already amassed over $500 million in trading volume in less than 24 hours since the airdrop.
NFT marketplace Blur made headlines recently when it held its highly anticipated BLUR token airdrop. The airdrop was a success, with the top trader snagging more than $1.9 million worth of the Ethereum-based governance tokens. However, the airdrop was not without controversy.
According to blockchain data curated by Dune, the top claimant in the BLUR airdrop took home over 3.2 million BLUR tokens, valued at about $1.93 million based on the current price of about $0.60 per token via CoinGecko. The wallet that claimed this stash of tokens was created less than three months ago and has been incredibly active in the NFT space, trading massive sums of Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Otherside NFTs in recent days.
Controversy among the top claimants of the BLUR airdrop
A closer look at the trading activity from the wallet shows that the holder has repeatedly been buying and selling loads of the same NFTs, suggesting wash trading or at least a coordinated effort to game the Blur trading model. The sale prices aren’t high enough to raise suspicion, but the assets are being flipped at the such frequency to generate enormous trading volume.
This points to either wash trading from one person or group across multiple wallets or a coordinated effort. As with the top wallet, it’s not immediately clear who owns these wallets—but they’re all intertwined in what appears to be a large-scale and successful attempt to manipulate the Blur airdrop, indeed driving up Blur’s marketplace trading volume in the process.
Other top claimants in the Blur airdrop include well-known collectors and social media personalities, including the pseudonymous Machi Big Brother (almost 1.85 million BLUR, or $1.1 million worth), Keungz (610K BLUR, or $368,000 worth), and significant Bored Ape Yacht Club trader Franklin (540K BLUR, or $326,000 price).
The BLUR token airdrop and how it attracted traders
Despite the controversy surrounding the airdrop, BLUR tokens have already amassed over $500 million in trading volume in less than 24 hours. Airdrops are the unsolicited distribution of a cryptocurrency token or coin, usually for free, to multiple wallet addresses and are generally used to gain users. BLUR tokens were airdropped to users of the Blur marketplace, with the airdrop amount depending on the total activity, network volume, and transactions made by each user on the platform.
Blockchain data shows over 33,000 unique wallet holders of BLUR as of Wednesday morning, with most of these initially receiving the airdrop before likely transferring the tokens to other wallets. Some traders sold the tokens en masse after receiving the airdrop. The tokens were originally listed at $1 on crypto exchange Coinbase but fell to as low as 48 cents late on Tuesday. However, Asian hours on Wednesday saw buying pressure, and the tokens rose to 72 cents as of writing time.
The total value of tokens on the Blur marketplace spiked by $10 million in the past 24 hours, DeFiLlama data shows. CoinGecko data shows over $530 million worth of BLUR has been traded across exchanges such as OKX, Kucoin, and Uniswap.
Despite the controversy surrounding the airdrop, the success of the BLUR token has driven interest and investment in the NFT marketplace Blur. BLUR tokens allow users to participate in the platform’s governance, and the airdrop’s success suggests significant interest in the platform among investors and traders.
