Blur

Season 1 distributed 360 million BLUR, about 12% of supply, to early adopters and active users based on trading volume and engagement. Season 2 ran from 14 February to 20 November 2023, and Decrypt reported that one wallet, hanwe.eth, received 22.85 million BLUR from the 300 million BLUR set aside for the season's end, a single prize worth millions of dollars.

Season 3 was powered by the Blast Layer 2 and ran until May 2024. Its rewards were split equally between NFT traders, through Blur Points earned by bidding, listing and lending, and BLUR holders, through Holder Points with a multiplier for the time held. The Blast Foundation allocated 3% of the BLAST supply to the Blur Foundation to distribute to the Blur community for retroactive and future airdrops.

Blur's own announcement was narrower: 1% of the total supply to traders and holders in Season 3, 0.5% reserved for Season 4 and another 0.5% for future use, with no stated plan for the last half percent.

Season 2's structure created extreme concentration, with a single wallet receiving a multi-million-dollar prize. A system that rewards bids, loans and volume strongly rewards the largest and most automated traders, and a points programme tied to a trading pool is a game of capital and speed.

Season 3's link to Blast shows how airdrops can be chained: users of one product were funnelled into another chain's programme.

For anyone studying the model, Blur showed how an incentive programme can change market structure: by paying for bids and listings it pulled liquidity from rival marketplaces, then reduced rewards once its position was secure. That is a successful growth tactic, but it also means that volume during the programme was partly subsidised and may not reflect organic demand. Readers evaluating a similar scheme should ask what remains once the rewards stop.