Blur to Deprecate NFT Marketplace Frontend on Nov. 12 After 99% Volume Collapse

• Blur announced it will deprecate its blur.io frontend on November 12, 2026, while keeping the on-chain marketplace protocol operational.
• Blend will stop matching new NFT loans on the same date, giving borrowers until then to repay or default.
• Monthly trading volume dropped more than 99.5% from about $1.43 billion in March 2023 to under $7 million.
• The BLUR token fell more than 20% and hit a record low near $0.0127 following the news.

NFT marketplace Blur said Monday it will deprecate its public website frontend on November 12, 2026, marking a sharp retreat for a platform that once dominated Ethereum NFT trading, according to its official announcement on X.

The deprecation applies only to the frontend at blur.io. The underlying marketplace smart contracts will remain operational on-chain, and $BLUR token holders will continue to control the protocol’s fee switch, the project stated in the X thread.

Separately, Blur’s NFT lending protocol Blend will stop matching new loans on November 12. “Borrowers have until then to repay their loans or allow them to default,” the team wrote in a follow-up post. After the date, Blur said it will provide a dedicated frontend tool to help users withdraw assets from Blend.

The move follows a steep collapse in activity. Monthly trading volume on Blur peaked at approximately $1.43 billion in March 2023, when the platform captured more than 70% of Ethereum NFT volume, and fell to less than $7 million by March 2026 — a drop of more than 99.5%, according to data cited by CoinDesk and The Block. The fee-free marketplace generated no protocol revenue over the past three years, Token Terminal records show, as reported by CoinDesk.

The announcement comes roughly 10 days after sister project Blast, the Ethereum Layer 2 also founded by Tieshun “Pacman” Roquerre, said it would wind down operations. Blast’s total value locked had fallen from more than $2 billion to about $32 million.

The BLUR token reacted sharply, falling more than 20% immediately and trading near a record low of $0.01267 on October 13, down more than 28% over 24 hours with volume exceeding $56 million, according to BeInCrypto. Protocol TVL sits at about $22.63 million, roughly 90% below its 2024 peak.

The news revived criticism of Blur’s earlier strategy of optional creator royalties and token incentives that helped it overtake OpenSea in 2023 but drew backlash from some collectors, as noted by Cointelegraph.

While the on-chain protocol remains available, the frontend closure effectively ends convenient access for most users and underscores the sustained contraction in NFT market activity since the 2021-2022 peak.