Blend Drives Surge In NFT Lending Activity

Blend, a recently launched lending protocol from Blur, the top NFT marketplace by volume, has driven a surge in NFT loan activity this month.

Combined NFT loan volumes totaled $375M from May 1 until May 22, of which Blend accounted for 82% or $308M, according to a report from DappRadar.

For comparison, NftFi, a pioneer of the NFT lending space, has processed $427M in total lending volume since launching 24 months ago. BendDAO, another popular NFT lending platform, drove $315M since launching in March 2020. Blend’s total value locked stands at $24M.

“Blur’s activity has shifted from trading to lending, which currently represents 46.2% of recent [weekly] operations,” DappRadar said. “The pivot from trading to lending, and a remarkable growth in daily unique users, are testament to Blur’s growing influence and the impact of its strategic maneuvers.”

Blend’s closest rival for May is X2Y2 with $20.7M in loan volume or a 5.5% market share, followed by NftFi with $19.9M or 5.3%.

The boom in the NFT finance sector may give NFTs a much-needed shot of adrenaline.

Non-fungibles have suffered from a protracted downturn since January 2022, with trade volumes steadily drying up and floor prices plummeting. NFT trading drove $466M in volume since the start of May, beating out the nascent lending sector by just 20%.

Blend Shakes Up NFT Lending Sector

Blur launched Blend on May 1. Blend is a lending protocol that accepts any form of digital asset as collateral, with an emphasis on NFTs.

The protocol quickly rose to prominence by offering a controversial incentive program for users who traded on the platform, earmarking $186M worth of its BLUR token for early adopters. However, the strategy led to a boom of wash trading from opportunistic whales, with DappRadar estimating $19M worth of wash trades were executed on Blur over just the past week.

Total Blur trading volume declined 16% over the past week to $104.3M.

Azuki is the favored collection among Blend users, representing one-third of Blend’s volume with 6,455 loans worth $127.1M. CryptoPunks come in second with 953 loans worth $63.4M, followed by Milady Maker with 7,621 loans worth $40.8M.

The Bored Ape Yacht Collection and Mutant Ape Yacht Club are quickly catching up, driving $32.M from 513 loans and $21M from 1,676 loans, respectively, since Blend launched support for the collections on May 15.