Magic Eden is sunsetting its Bitcoin and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) marketplaces, as well as discontinuing support for its multi-chain wallet, sources close to the matter told Blockspace.
The sources said that Magic Eden is expected to make an announcement of the wind down as early as Friday, followed by the shutdown of its BTC and EVM marketplaces in the first week of March.
Soon thereafter, the sources said, Magic Eden plans to discontinue its cross-chain wallet, with the wallet entering export-only mode in mid-March before full discontinuation in early April. The sources clarified that Magic Eden will still support Solana NFTs and assets.
The move marks a dramatic pivot for the platform, which built a reputation as the dominant marketplace for Bitcoin Ordinals – a Bitcoin-specific NFT standard – and was at one point the largest NFT platform by trading volume.
Magic Eden launched its Ordinals marketplace in March 2023, and within a week had captured over half of all Ordinals trading volume. At its peak, the platform commanded roughly 80% of all Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes trading volume, and Bitcoin-native assets accounted for 70% of its total marketplace activity.
Magic Eden’s rise
Founded in September 2021 as a Solana-focused NFT marketplace, Magic Eden quickly dominated that ecosystem, capturing over 90% of Solana NFT volume within months. The company raised $157 million in venture funding, including a $130 million Series B in June 2022 that valued it at $1.6 billion. Early investors in Magic Eden included Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Electric Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
When the Ordinals protocol for Bitcoin NFTs launched in early 2023, Magic Eden became a clear early winner of the ecosystem, overtaking early leaders in the market.
By mid-2024, Magic Eden had surpassed Blur and Opensea to become the top NFT marketplace globally by monthly trading volume, recording $734 million in March 2024 alone.
Magic Eden launched its multi-chain wallet in January 2024, supporting Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. The Android app has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
MagicEden’s new direction
Magic Eden has been publicly pivoting away from its NFT marketplace toward what CEO Jack Lu has called “crypto entertainment” like prediction markets.
The shutdown of Bitcoin and EVM support, combined with the wallet sunsetting, suggests Magic Eden is consolidating around Solana, its origin chain, while betting its future on token trading and entertainment products rather than NFTs.
Blockspace has reached out to Magic Eden for comment and will update this story with any response.
