Is Blur Augmenting NFTs’ “Dark Side”?
NFTs seem to often lead to heated discussions. This time, the debate focuses on why the NFT marketplace Blur is potentially harmful to the emerging space.
What are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) really all about? Art or money? And how does Blur, OpenSea’s competitor in the NFT marketplace, amplify the NFTs’ “dark side”, i.e. greed?
Aaron Sage, an artist and a Web3 Maxi, has an opinion. In his fresh Twitter thread, he delved into the subject, arguing that the NFT space attracts those who are interested in art and those who just simply want to make a quick buck while dubbing Blur “the worst thing to happen in this space.”
Source: Aaron Sage’s Twitter
In his tweets, he explained the difference between OpenSea and Blur, emphasizing that the latter is all about greed. He reasons that NFTs' main value is artistic, not monetary. However, Blur only emphasizes the financial aspect of the creation.
“NFTs are not all about money. Blur has made it that, and for that alone. They have brainwashed you with their incentives and given you free money to hook you in,” Sage argues. “People will bring up Blur's incentives and capitalize on the fact that OpenSea falls short in comparison. But put that aside and put yourself in a noobs position who's looking to get into NFTs. Do you really want to onboard them into the money side of things or the art/culture?”
He also showed the interface of Blur, which unlike that of OpenSea appears to be catering to professional traders, replicating the traditional stock market view.
Source: Aaron Sage’s Twitter
He also adds that OpenSea has supported the NFT creators from the outset, augmenting the artistic value of their creations.
“Regardless of the UI-comparison, Blur capitalizes on their money airdrops which has nothing to do with NFTs or what we should be projecting this space towards. Money and greed < Art and culture,” he says.
In response to his claims, a Twitter user suhaan.eth emphasized that OpenSea is far from impeccable as it has brought royalties down while Josiah l NFTLitigator.eth pointed out that no one is trying to onboard people with blur.
However, Sage underscored that the debate isn’t about OpenSea vs. Blur – rather about the philosophy underpinning NFT, agreeing with another commentator that because of such a money-first approach, “the government will take this as proof that NFTs are just securities. And not art.”
Just recently, a U.S. federal judge ruled that emojis are a form of financial recommendation when reviewing NFT-related tweets by Dapper Labs.
