Tensor is preparing a massive airdrop for Solana NFT traders

By targeting “pro” traders and offering “loyalty” prizes for utilizing its marketplace, Tensor, a hitherto modest competitor in the current NFT marketplace warfare, is swiftly gaining market dominance. Blur, the main Ethereum platform, used a similar strategy.

On Monday, the platform launched its “Season 1 airdrop,” enabling Solana NFT collectors to get free reward boxes in accordance to their blockchain trading activity. Everyone who purchased or sold a Solana NFT during the last six months on any marketplace is eligible, and Tensor users will get “25x-50x more benefits,” according to a tweet.

It closely resembles the paradigm established by Blur, a new Ethereum NFT marketplace that launched in October of last year, in terms of conception, execution, and aesthetics. When it comes to Ethereum NFT trading volume, Blur shot to the top of the rankings in February as users flipped NFTs in large quantities to maximize their BLUR airdrop benefits.

According to publicly available blockchain data gathered by analytics platform Dune, Tensor’s Solana NFT trading volume increased on Monday, hitting 23,351 SOL, or nearly $486,000 by the end of the day based on the value of Solana, as per CoinGecko. During that time, there were about 2,800 NFT deals on the platform.

Tensor has enabled around 19% of all Solana NFT trade activity over the last 24 hours, compared to market leader Magic Eden’s 60%, according to market-wide data gathered by Tiexo. Given that Tensor has only contributed around 6% of Solana NFT trade activity over the previous 30 days, that is a significant increase.

Tensor announced today that it has raised a $3 million seed round, led by VC firm Placeholder, with participation from Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal as well as Solana Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, and MonkeVentures. This follows the airdrop’s spike in trading activity and media attention. Famous pseudonymous trader HGE, who established the competing trading platform Hadeswap, also joined.

1/6 We're extremely excited to announce our $3m seed round led by @placeholdervc, with participation from @aeyakovenko, @rajgokal, @alliancedao, @SolanaVentures, @BigBrainVC, @HGESOL, @MonkeVentures, @ABCV3NTURES, @solBOOGLE and many other amazing funds/angels. pic.twitter.com/Jn3mf7gS1V

— Tensor ⚡️ (@tensor_hq) March 7, 2023

The Tensor team claimed on Twitter that it started seeking startup capital in November when cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which was tightly connected to the Solana ecosystem, started to fall apart. The business claimed that while some potential investors were difficult to win over, it eventually found enthusiastic sponsors in the industry.

According to Tensor,

Every VC opened the interview by inquiring as to our departure from Solana. When we told them we weren’t, they immediately hung up on us.

Differences from Blur: AMM Trading Pools & Reedemable Reward Boxes

In contrast to Blur, Tensor is designed on automated market maker (AMM) trading pools, which offer more liquidity for buying and selling NFTs. Also, it provides a thorough “pro” interface with additional trading capabilities.

Similar to how Blur promised to airdrop “care packages” with enigmatized gifts, Tensor is giving traders redeemable reward “boxes” to open. Finally, Blur released its own token for those traders to purchase. So far, Tensor has indicated that the boxes include “fun items you might like” and suggested that the captions carry clues for traders.

Tensor tweeted,

Tensor believes in a decentralized Web3 future where the most crucial protocols are controlled by the community. Tensor is great because of YOU, and if we ever construct anything significant, we want YOU to have a stake in it.

The launch of a larger airdrop for the second season, which will only recognize trading activity on Tensor’s platform and not the larger Solana NFT market, was announced by the company on Monday. With a “loyalty” metric and a future points leaderboard, traders will be rewarded for placing bids on or listing NFTs, as well as for adding liquidity to pools.

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