NFT marketplace Magic Eden has finalized its acquisition of Slingshot, a cross-chain trading app, marking a significant pivot beyond digital collectibles into comprehensive crypto trading. The strategic move, completed on April 9, 2025, transforms Magic Eden from an NFT-focused platform into a full-spectrum digital asset marketplace supporting over 5 million tokens across multiple blockchains.
Key Takeaways
Magic Eden’s acquisition of Slingshot positions the company to compete directly with centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Binance while maintaining a non-custodial, on-chain model.
Slingshot’s chain-abstraction technology enables trading across 10+ blockchains without requiring users to bridge assets between networks.
Despite generating $75 million in revenue from NFTs in 2024, Magic Eden is diversifying its business model amid changing market conditions.
The platform will maintain its existing NFT marketplace while adding trading capabilities for millions of tokens, including those often excluded from centralized exchanges.
Future plans include integrating Bitcoin runes and expanding to additional blockchains like HyperLiquid, XRP, Cardano, Sui, and TON.
Slingshot’s Game-Changing Cross-Chain Technology
The foundation of this expansion is Slingshot’s innovative chain-abstracted trading system. This technology eliminates traditional barriers between blockchains, allowing users to trade assets across Solana, Ethereum, and soon Bitcoin without manually transferring tokens between networks.
Slingshot’s approach includes a universal USDC balance system that simplifies the user experience. By removing technical hurdles like gas fees and bridging requirements, Magic Eden can now offer non-custodial trading with transparent on-chain settlements across multiple blockchain ecosystems.
Strategic Diversification Beyond NFTs
While Magic Eden achieved impressive financial results with $75 million in revenue in 2024 despite NFT market challenges, the company recognizes the need to adapt to changing market conditions. At its peak, the platform facilitated $1.9 billion in secondary NFT trading volume and attracted 22 million monthly visitors.
CEO Jack Lu emphasized that while the company remains “incredibly bullish” on NFTs, mainstream crypto adoption requires utility-driven applications rather than purely speculative trading. This acquisition represents a calculated move to expand Magic Eden’s reach while maintaining its core NFT business.
Frictionless Onboarding for New Crypto Users
A key advantage of the Slingshot integration is its user-friendly features that remove common barriers to entry for crypto newcomers. With support for Apple Pay, Venmo, and traditional credit/debit cards, the platform simplifies the purchasing process.
The system’s email login option mirrors the familiarity of centralized exchanges while providing multi-chain flexibility. Slingshot has already attracted nearly 1 million users, showing the potential of this approach to broaden Magic Eden’s audience beyond NFT collectors.
Competing with Centralized Exchanges
Lu describes the vision for Magic Eden’s expanded platform as “Think Binance or Coinbase, but fully on-chain.” This approach provides the company with a competitive edge against centralized exchanges by avoiding regulatory and security issues associated with custodial models.
The company’s strategy is guided by what Lu calls the MAGIC Principles:
Magic Eden’s historical 2% NFT marketplace fee undercut competitors like OpenSea (2.5%), suggesting a willingness to compete on price in the broader token trading market as well.
Expanding Beyond NFT Collections
The acquisition dramatically increases Magic Eden’s asset offerings. While the platform will continue to support its 8,000 existing NFT collections, users will now have access to over 5 million tokens, including memecoins and altcoins that are often excluded from centralized platforms due to regulatory considerations.
This vast expansion of available assets helps Magic Eden capture users who might be deterred by the limitations of major exchanges, positioning the company uniquely in both the NFT and broader crypto-trading spaces.
Future Roadmap
Magic Eden has outlined ambitious plans for the continued expansion of its cross-chain ecosystem. Key upcoming features include:
Bitcoin Runes integration
Support for additional blockchains including HyperLiquid, XRP, Cardano, Sui, and TON
Enhanced social features enabling copy trading and portfolio sharing
The success of Magic Eden’s expanded platform will depend on how effectively the company balances innovation with stability as it enters the competitive and volatile token-trading sector.
As Magic Eden evolves from an NFT marketplace to a comprehensive crypto trading platform, it faces the challenge of maintaining its existing community while attracting traders who previously might have used centralized exchanges. With Slingshot’s technology now integrated, the company is betting that reducing friction between blockchains will prove appealing to both casual and advanced crypto users.
