OpenSea scraps its compulsory royalty payments in the wake of Blur's ascendance. Blur, a no-fee NFT trading platform, took the lead in February. As OpenSea's strategies falter, Blur continues to captivate creators, further weakening the market for NFT-linked art.

The overall trading volume of NFTs has drastically declined, from $5.36 billion in January 2022 to $410 million in August, according to The Block. OpenSea's share of the struggling market has plunged to under 30%.

Unlike OpenSea, the once-leading marketplace for NFT-linked art, Blur does not charge platform processing fees, attracting creators and sellers alike. The absence of royalty agreements on Blur's platform also weakens the allure of creating NFT-linked artworks, coupled with the plummeting prices of computer-generated art associated with tokens.

In an attempt to rival Blur, OpenSea introduced an operator filter, enabling NFT creators to restrict their tokens' sale in marketplaces that do not enforce royalties. However, this strategy backfired as market forces favored Blur.

Traders seeking quick returns dismissed the concept of royalties. That eventually led to a steep decline in OpenSea's trading volume, which dipped to 27% in August.

Even OpenSea Pro, the fee-free aggregator launched as a direct competitor to Blur in April, failed to capture market share. In August, it accounted for only 33% of trading volume on NFT aggregators, with 63% of trades occurring on Blur, as per Dune Analytics data.

OpenSea lost market share to Blur and operates within a smaller market. NFT trading peaked at $16 billion in January 2022 but has since experienced a significant decrease. In August, the total trading volume plummeted to $559 million, marking a more than 60% decline compared to last year.

As the NFT landscape continues to evolve, OpenSea faces mounting challenges and an uncertain future in the face of stiff competition from Blur and an overall diminishing market.

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