Deep dive into Solana marketplaces
Solana is a third-generation blockchain and expanding network designed to facilitate decentralized app (DApp) creation. Solana aims to achieve scalability thanks to the innovative hybrid consensus model that offers better settlement speeds and a higher capacity for transactions.
The Solana ecosystem is a home for a vast array of projects using the Solana blockchain.
Among these projects include unique wallet solutions, decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, staking platforms, digital games, storage solutions, and much more. Needless to say, the Solana ecosystem is also well suited for NFTs creators, as far as setting up an NFT showcase. In this article, we will focus on the explosive NFT ecosystem on Solana through sample marketplaces.
Table of contents:
What is so special about Solana?
The Solana ecosystem
SOL token
Marketplaces
Magic Eden
Solanart
Closing thoughts
What is so special about Solana?
The Solana blockchain adopts a new method of verifying transactions, known as Proof of History (PoH). Without going deep into technical details, Solana is capable of supporting over 50,000 transactions per second, while maintaining block times of 400 milliseconds. For instance, Ethereum can currently process roughly 13-15 transactions per second. At the same time, Solana is quite low-cost as transaction costs on the network are estimated at 10 USD for 1 million transactions.
In addition, it has several features that make it stand apart. However, we will not go into details as this requires certain technical skills and background understanding.
The Solana ecosystem
Solana was launched in 2020 meaning it is a relatively nascent project and the network keeps growing. Also, Solana has launched several different marketing strategies such as hackathons or bug bounty programs to invite more users and developers. It has already acquired over $12B in total value locked across all its DApps. These figures are accompanied by growing developer activity on its blockchain, mainly a rising appetite for DAOs creation, the rise of DeFi, NFTs, and the gaming segment on the Solana ecosystem. Moreover, Solana is present on almost every communication channel and has more than 1.46 million followers on its Twitter account.
SOL token
SOL is Solana’s native cryptocurrency. It plays an essential role in maintaining and running the Solana ecosystem. SOL works similarly to how ETH is used on Ethereum, but holders stake the token in order to validate transactions through the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Similar to Ethereum, Solana allows developers to run smart contracts and create projects based on the blockchain. It also enables users to participate in governance processes, receive rewards and pay transaction fees. The live Solana price today is about $96 USD.
Marketplaces
Solana provides support to numerous teams of developers and designers looking to launch their NFT projects. Indeed, Solana has an excellent reputation for launching NFTs with over 5.7 million NFTs being minted to date. For example, Metaplex offers a collection of tools, smart contracts, and more designed to simplify the process of creating and launching NFT projects, as well, starting with creator showcases and assisting in the distribution of NFTs to their communities via auctions or instant sales. For now, let’s introduce the two most popular marketplaces on Solana.
Magic Eden
“Building the biggest and most liquid NFT marketplace globally and home to the next generation of digital creators”.
Magic Eden is the leading Solana NFT marketplace where you can mint, sell and buy NFTs. It has streamlined the minting process and reduced the cost of transaction fees, thus making non-fungible token (NFT) projects affordable and effortless for everyone.
Since Magic Eden runs on the Solana blockchain, all fees involved are basically insignificant due to the high throughput of the network. The listing fee is 0%, while 2% is charged on each transaction. Creators can set their royalties and get paid immediately after a sale. SOL tokens are the medium of payment for fees. Magic Eden supports almost all Solana wallets from Phantom, Slope, Sollet, etc.
NFT collections inside Magic Eden are growing every day, and this expansion will grow even further, which will result in increased trading activity and a stronger community. Magic Eden has popular NFT projects/collections ranging from Galactic Geckos, Shadowy Super Coders DAO, Portals, and much more. Once connected, head over to the search bar at the top of the page.
The NFT collections within Magic Eden are growing every day, and this expansion looks set to continue, resulting in increased trading activity and a stronger community. Magic Eden features popular NFT projects and collections such as Galactic Geckos, Shadow DAO Super Coders, Portals, and much more. Once logged in, go to the search bar at the top of the page and explore yourself the wide range of listed NFTs.
At the same time, In addition, Magic Eden provides Launchpad tools and services aimed to help creators mint their collections without any technical skills. However, not everyone who signs up for Launchpad will be accepted, as the platform has established specific criteria for selecting NFT creators.
Currently, Magic Eden’s total volume has reached over 5,89M SOL, or roughly over $603.3M.
Solanart
“Solanart is a fully-fledged NFT marketplace based on the Solana network that allows anyone to acquire or sell Solana-based NFTs. Solanart aims to help promote artists and creators by providing them with a trustless marketplace to share their art.” Solanart is currently in beta.
The marketplace has a transaction fee of 3% for every successful NFT sale. The creator is able to set their own fee. The platform also charges a 0.02% ad fee to avoid the overflow of advertisements on the platform. Without surprise, SOL tokens are the medium of payment for fees. Solanart supports several wallets including Solflare, Phantom, Clover, Sollet, Slope, Ledger, MathWallet, and Sollet (Extension).
NFT collections are not immediately accepted on the platform and must go through a curation process. When putting your NFT for sale, it is stored on a 'Temporary Account' owned by the marketplace program and added to a database that stores the data of the sale. When someone buys your NFT, the program transfers the SOL amount from the buyer to the seller and then unlocks the NFT which is sent to the buyer. Solanart offers popular NFT collections that include Degenerate Ape Academy, Aurora, Solpunks, and Galactic Gecko Space Garage.
Currently, Solanart’s total volume has reached over 4,8M SOL, or roughly over $491.66M.
Closing thoughts
Solana is still a recently launched project that, despite its uneven growth, has yet to find its feet. In the meantime, it has already caught the attention of the community with its low transaction fees, fast platforms, and growing collection of NFTs.