On May 1, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Blur announced the launch of Blend, a peer-to-peer perpetual lending protocol that allows NFT collateral. Developed in partnership with venture capital firm Paradigm, Blend aims to achieve “financialization to scale.” Unlike other lending protocols, Blend does not have any oracle dependencies or expiries. Borrowing positions can remain open indefinitely until termination, and there are no fees collected from borrowers or lenders. Blend pairs borrowers who have non-fungible collateral with lenders who offer the most competitive rates, and the borrowing position will continue to roll over as long as there is a lender willing to lend against the collateral.
Should a lender wish to terminate the loan against the borrower’s wishes, a refinancing auction will take place. Developers have noted that borrowers can repay the loan at any time, and if they want to change the amount borrowed or receive better interest rates, they can take out a new loan against the collateral. Since its launch in the third quarter of 2022, Blur has rewarded users with “care packages” redeemable for BLUR tokens and has surpassed OpenSea in trading volume.