Magic Eden Drops Bitcoin And Ethereum To Chase iGaming As NFT Trading Volume Collapses

Magic Eden is abandoning the multi-chain strategy that briefly made it the largest NFT marketplace by trading volume, shutting down its Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)-compatible marketplaces as early as the first week of March and winding down its cross-chain wallet by April.

CEO Jack Lu said Friday the company is orienting itself around "the massive opportunity in iGaming," a departure from the digital collectibles business where Magic Eden built its reputation.

The platform will retain support for Solana-based assets - where it launched in 2021 and still generated the vast majority of its $576 million in monthly trading volume as of last month, per Dune data.

Bitcoin-based assets contributed just $121,000 of that total over the same period, a figure that helps explain the economics behind the exit.

From Ordinals Pioneer to iGaming Bet

Magic Eden was among the first major platforms to support Bitcoin Ordinals after their introduction in early 2023, capturing more than half of the emerging market's trading volume within its first week of launch.

At the time, Bitcoin-based assets accounted for roughly 70% of overall NFT market activity.

The company also expanded into EVM-compatible chains including Polygon, Base, and Avalanche (AVAX) as part of a bid for cross-chain dominance. That experiment is now ending.