Quick take:
The company will support trading across millions of tokens, putting it in a position to rival popular centralised exchanges.
Despite the declining transaction volumes in the NFT sector, Magic Eden co-founder and CEO Jack Lu said his company remains “incredibly bullish” on NFTs.
Lu said Magic Eden generated $75 million in revenue last year, adding that the next phase of the NFT industry will be driven by usefulness.
Magic Eden has announced the acquisition of the mobile-first on-chain trading platform Slingshot. The acquisition is part of the NFT platform’s expansion strategy and puts it in a position to compete with centralised exchanges.
The company is looking to expand its product offerings beyond non-fungible tokens as it pushes into broader token trading. This acquisition enables Magic Eden to support trading across millions of tokens.
The announcement comes back on what looked like a successful year for the company after registering $75 million in revenue in 2024. And even though NFT transaction volumes have fallen significantly, Magic Eden co-founder and CEO Jack Lu said his company remains “incredibly bullish” on NFTs.
“The Slingshot acquisition is Magic Eden’s big bet into the token trading space,” Jack Lu, co-founder and CEO of Magic Eden, told The Block. “Slingshot’s chain abstraction technology lets people trade millions of tokens on 10+ chains without needing to know how blockchains work (e.g. bridging, gas tokens, approvals). These chains include Solana, Ethereum, Bitcoin (coming soon) and many others. We believe this technology represents the future of all crypto trading and will allow Magic Eden to compete directly with centralized exchanges.”
According to Lu, the current decline in NFT transaction volumes does not signify an end but an evolution.
“To us, NFTs are still in their early innings, and like any emerging technology, the path to mainstream adoption includes waves of experimentation and refinement,” Lu said. “They are still a new digital primitive that will power the future of gaming, art, collectibles, etc.”
The Slingshot acquisition represents a significant shift to a diversified class of assets and also potentially expands Magic Eden’s user base with its 1 million users.
Though the details of the acquisition were not disclosed, Lu confirmed the deal had already been completed, with no pending approvals.
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