Coinbase has announced that it will add support for the ERC-20 token BLUR, the pro-NFT trading market governance token Blur.io.
Coinbase said it will start trading the BLUR-USD pair when there is sufficient BLUR liquidity. The exchange will mark BLUR as an experimental token, which will not be available in all jurisdictions.
BLUR Governance Indicators
The Blur marketplace, aimed at professional traders, sent BLUR governance tokens in care packages to early traders in October 2022. At the time, Blur.io said it would unlock the tokens in January 2023, but later delayed the release for on February 14. 2023, amid technical challenges.
Crypto projects use airdrops to generate buzz. In most cases, users qualify to receive free cryptocurrency by performing certain tasks that draw attention to a particular project.
Blur care packs have three levels of rarity: uncommon, rare, and legendary, with the legendary rarity level containing the most BLUR. Blur’s first round of airdrops rewarded active traders in the six months following Blur’s launch with unusual care packages. The second flight took place in November 2022 and rewarded merchants with rare care packages. The third airdrop, whose tokens will also be unlocked on February 14, 2023, received legendary packs.
At press time, BLUR was trading at $25.25, up 500% on the day, pending a token unlock.
New Marketplace beats OpenSea and Coinbase
In other news, Coinbase’s bustling NFT marketplace has struggled to compete with incumbent OpenSea, let alone Blur itself.
On February 2, 2023, Fortune reported that the market had processed an insignificant volume of trades of $150 and $1,500 in the week ending on that date. In comparison, OpenSea recorded a trading volume of $10 million between January 26, 2023 and February 2, 2023.
Trading volumes Blur.io’s marketplace beat OpenSea for 12 out of 13 days in February, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard. Sales peaked at around $17 million on February 9, 2023, compared to OpenSea’s $14 million.
At the time, Coinbase denied that the hiatus of new artists signaled the demise of the platform, saying it was working to improve the tools artists were asking for.
Coinbase will fight the SEC over product staking if necessary
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the company’s legal team will fight claims that the institutional cryptocurrency betting product was a security. Staking allows those willing to participate in blockchain security to earn rewards for validating transactions.
His tweet came after the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Coinbase competitor Kraken for offering the staking service as allegedly unregistered security to US customers. Kraken paid the SEC a $30 million settlement without admitting or denying wrongdoing, but pulled its product stake from the US domestic market.
Coinbase fired former product manager Ishan Wahi last year for his involvement in an insider trading case, revealing many tokens would have been listed on the platform 24 hours before their initial listings. He will be sentenced at a hearing on May 10, 2023. Wahi’s younger brother is already serving a 10-month sentence for profiting through the Ishan Wahi leak.
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Denial of responsibility
BeInCrypto has reached out to a company or individual involved in the story to get an official statement on the recent developments, but has yet to hear back.