Magic Eden Abandons NFT Trading for iGaming Frenzy

Magic Eden is shifting its focus from NFT trading to iGaming after experiencing a significant collapse in trading volume. The platform, which was briefly the largest NFT marketplace by trading volume, will shut down its Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)-compatible marketplaces as early as the first week of March.

The company's CEO, Jack Lu, announced that Magic Eden is orienting itself around 'the massive opportunity in iGaming'. The platform will retain support for Solana-based assets, where it generated a vast majority of its $576 million in monthly trading volume as of last month. In contrast, Bitcoin-based assets contributed only $121,000 to the total.

Magic Eden was an early adopter of Bitcoin Ordinals and had expanded into EVM-compatible chains like Polygon, Base, and Avalanche (AVAX) in a bid for cross-chain dominance. However, this experiment is now ending as the company focuses on iGaming. Lu unveiled Dicey, a crypto casino and sportsbook, in January, citing a 'speculation supercycle'. The ME token, used for platform rewards and governance, traded at $0.12 on Friday, down 97% from its debut peak of $5.63.