Blur, the Ethereum NFT marketplace that overtook OpenSea in trading volume during 2023, said on October 12, 2026 that it will retire its blur.io website on November 12. On the same date, its NFT lending product, Blend, will stop matching new loans. Borrowers were told to repay or let their loans default before the cutoff.
Historical news event: 2026-10-12. Retrospective report prepared November 2026.
The announcement came in a short thread on X. It covers the website and new loan matching, not the smart contracts underneath them. "The Blur marketplace protocol will remain operational on-chain, and $BLUR will continue to control its fee switch," the company wrote. The fee switch is the setting that BLUR token holders can vote on to start charging trading fees. Blur gave no reason for closing the site.
A deadline for Blend borrowers
For collectors with open loans, the date matters most. Blend is a peer-to-peer lending system that lets people borrow ETH against NFTs such as Bored Apes or CryptoPunks. Blur built it with the investment firm Paradigm and launched it in May 2023. If a loan isn't repaid on its terms, the lender can end up with the NFT.
"Blend will stop matching new loans on November 12, 2026," Blur said in a second post. "Borrowers have until then to repay their loans or allow them to default." The team said it would offer a separate tool after the deadline so users can withdraw assets from Blend, but it didn't give a release date for that tool, Unchained reported.
Blur also warned about fake accounts and phishing links that try to exploit shutdowns like this one. "The only official Blur account is @blur_io," it said in a third post. Anyone offering an early migration page or a special withdrawal link through direct messages should be treated as a scammer. Our older guide to common crypto scam techniques still applies here.
The October 12 statement wasn't an instant shutdown. Trading on blur.io carried on after the announcement, with November 12 set as the changeover date.
How Blur rose, and how far volumes fell
Blur launched in October 2022 with a pitch aimed at professional traders: fast screens, collection-wide bids, zero marketplace fees and token rewards for active users. Its founder, Tieshun Roquerre, known online as Pacman, revealed his identity in February 2023 and told The Block at the time: "We focus on the NFT natives first and from there we can expand." In the same interview he said "the goal is to build infrastructure that can be controlled by the community."
The approach worked for a while. Blur's monthly trading volume peaked at about $1.43 billion in March 2023, when it handled more than 70% of Ethereum NFT trading, according to DefiLlama figures cited by CoinDesk. By March 2026, monthly volume had fallen below $7 million, a drop of more than 99.5%. CoinDesk also noted that Token Terminal recorded no protocol revenue for Blur over the previous three years, since the marketplace didn't charge trading fees.
Critics had long argued that Blur's reward programs encouraged airdrop farming and suspected wash trading, and that its low creator-royalty policy pushed rivals to cut royalties too. The same incentive model drove much of the early volume at LooksRare, an earlier OpenSea challenger.
The BLUR token fell more than 20% after the announcement, to about $0.015, The Block reported on October 12. It had traded above $5 in early 2023.
The Blast connection
The Blur news followed a separate wind-down by Blast, an Ethereum layer 2 network created by Roquerre and built by the same core team. Blast announced its shutdown on October 2, 2026, and set October 26 as the last day for withdrawals through its normal interface. After that, users would need to call its bridge contracts on Ethereum directly. CoinDesk reported that Blast once held more than $2 billion in deposits, largely attracted by yield rewards, but only about $32 million by the time of the closure. Its developers said the network cost more to run than it earned. Our report on Blast's launch in November 2023 covers how that network began.
Blur hasn't publicly blamed operating losses for its own decision. The two closures, along with Abstract's December shutdown plan, point to a hard autumn for consumer crypto projects that grew on token incentives.
What survives when a website goes away
The Blur case shows a recurring point in decentralized finance. A protocol's contracts can keep running on a blockchain after the company behind the interface stops maintaining it. In practice, though, most people reach those contracts through a website. Without blur.io, bidding and loan management become harder for anyone who doesn't use third-party tools or interact with contracts directly.
For collectors, the immediate job is practical: close or repay Blend loans, move assets where needed, and avoid fake withdrawal sites before November 12. Readers comparing lending options can see our earlier overview of crypto lending platforms for background on how collateralized loans work.
For the wider NFT market, Blur's retreat is another sign that the trading infrastructure built during the 2021 to 2023 boom is shrinking to fit a much smaller market.
Frequently asked questions
When is Blur shutting down?
Blur said its blur.io website will be retired on November 12, 2026. The announcement was made on October 12, 2026, and trading continued on the site until the cutoff.
What happens to Blend loans after November 12?
Blend stops matching new loans on November 12, 2026. Borrowers were told to repay before then or let their loans default, and Blur said it will release a separate tool to help users withdraw assets from Blend after the deadline.
Will Blur's smart contracts keep working?
Yes. Blur said its marketplace protocol will stay operational onchain, and BLUR token holders will keep control of the protocol's fee switch.
Who founded Blur?
Blur was founded by Tieshun Roquerre, known as Pacman, who also created the Ethereum layer 2 network Blast. Blast announced its own shutdown on October 2, 2026.
Sources
- Blur on X, October 12, 2026 announcement thread (post 1)
- Blur on X, Blend deadline (post 2)
- Blur on X, impersonation warning (post 3)
- The Block, October 12, 2026: Blur shutting down frontend and Blend
- CoinDesk, October 13, 2026: volume collapse and Blast context
- Unchained, October 13, 2026: Blur retiring blur.io on November 12
- The Block, February 22, 2023: Pacman interview
- Paradigm, May 2023: Blend paper
Featured image: Blur
Frequently asked questions
When is Blur shutting down?
Blur said its blur.io website will be retired on November 12, 2026. The announcement was made on October 12, 2026, and trading continued on the site until the cutoff.
What happens to Blend loans after November 12?
Blend stops matching new loans on November 12, 2026. Borrowers were told to repay before then or let their loans default, and Blur said it will release a separate tool to help users withdraw assets from Blend after the deadline.
Will Blur's smart contracts keep working?
Yes. Blur said its marketplace protocol will stay operational onchain, and BLUR token holders will keep control of the protocol's fee switch.
Who founded Blur?
Blur was founded by Tieshun Roquerre, known as Pacman, who also created the Ethereum layer 2 network Blast. Blast announced its own shutdown on October 2, 2026.
Last updated NOV 11, 2026
