Solana’s NFT ecosystem is thriving. With blue chip collections like the Mad Lads, Claynosaurs, Tensorians, and Galactic Geckos, NFTs on Solana are thriving. Projects like Tensor and DRiP have made it easy for everyone to access, trade, and collect NFTs.
Culturally, NFTs hold a significant spot for people with community members often donning a profile pricture (PFP) from a favored NFT collection. As a sign of support in continued building and creating value from nothing, people are eager to discover the use cases for NFTs that we’ve barely scratched the surface on. On Solana, a thriving ecosystem for NFTs that leverages the infrastructure of the chain is building a strong foundation for future project launches and distributions.
Art is everything that people would do if money was no object, and NFTs bring art to the masses. No more seeing that Sotheby’s auction of a multi-million dollar Picasso. NFTs on Solana break down class barriers and makes art an endeavor for everyone, rather than just the big bank account-havers of society.
NFT Ecosystem
Tensor is the largest NFT marketplace on Solana, targeting traders and increasing the economic viability of NFTs as stores of value and investments. Tensor clawed its way to the top of NFT market share by simply building a great product that people wanted. Also the team behind Tensorians, Tensor is one of the largest and most successful projects on Solana.
DRiP is a unique experiment in killing the scarcity problem of NFTs, opening the space to artists to distribute NFT art at scale. With rarity tiers, users are able to purchase and send droplets to their favorite artists and may land them a 1/1 piece. DRiP leverages compressed NFTs which allow the project to distribute millions of NFTs to users for a few thousand dollars, a task that would be simply impossible without Solana infrastructure.
Projects like Sharky allow for people to connect in a lending/borrowing marketplace where NFTs are accepted as collateral. This connects liquidity from the NFT markets to Solana DeFi and provides NFT holders a viable way to access liquidity while maintaining ownership of their NFTs.
Only Possible on Solana
The evolution of the NFT ecosystem on Solana is due to a few key technical features.
Low Fees: Solana has fees for fractions of pennies, making distribution trivial.
High Transaction Speed and Throughput: As one of the most performant L1 blockchains, Solana allows large NFT launches to seamlessly hit the market. Highly anticipated mints have localized fees so increased demand does not cause negative externalities for other network users.
Native Token Features: With features like Token Extensions that enable Transfer Hooks, Non-transferability, and Metadata, NFTs on Solana are packed full of features right out of the box.
Mad Lads
As one of the most anticipated mints on Solana, the Mad Lads NFT project is led by Armani Ferrante and Tristan Yver, who are also building out the Backpack wallet and exchange. Mad Lads are now the largest NFT project on Solana, with a collection of 10k and one of the strongest communities in the entire crypto world. Bringing together multiple utility products, the Mad Lads generate value from the quality of the network, airdrops from external projects that are effective dividends on the project, as well as demonstrating support for the Backpack initiatives.
Saga Genesis
Maybe the most well known NFT on Solana is the Saga Genesis, which is non-transferrable comes with the original Solana Saga phone limited to 20k. In an attempt to challenge the iOS/Android duopoly, the Solana Mobile team launched the Saga which received a lukewarm reception. However, in late 2023, as Solana rallied nearly 10x, the memecoin Bonk announced that they would be airdropping Bonk to Saga Genesis NFT holders, at a value worth more than the cost of the phone, causing the phone to sell out overnight.
It was at this pivotal moment that the Saga Genesis NFT drew more attention from projects looking to invite a group of devout Solana supporters who owned the phone. Additionally, it was this event that moved the battle of the duopoly forward, making the Chapter 2 of the Solana phone campaign viable, reaching its preorder goal of 100,000 units in a matter of weeks.
Upcoming Project (KZNA Spring 2024)
One of the upcoming projects that I’m most excited about is KZNA (Pronounced: ki-zu-na). With a crypto-native powerhouse team, KZNA is an anime-themed brand and IP that brings composability to NFTs with upgradable traits and a deflationary ecosystem that brings maximal value to holders.
The art is some of the best in the entire crypto space, with well thought out themes and ideas that makes the project attractive to a broad audience. Join their Discord to learn more and get a whitelist spot for this highly anticipated collection of 8888!
Market Trends
One of the reasons why people will invest in NFTs is for geometric beta to Solana. For example, if an NFT is worth 10 SOL, you could store the SOL value in the NFT, and see it appreciate in SOL while SOL itself appreciates in USD. In practice, we often see initial dips in NFT/SOL prices as SOL/USD spikes because the market keeps NFT/USD relatively stable.
NFT liquidity is improved by projects like Tensor and Sharky. With marketplaces, people are able to access liquidity to trade NFTs or use them as collateral.
Conclusion
NFTs bring both utility and community to the crypto ecosystem. With potential for real-world utilization, NFTs on Solana present a scalable solution for people to use. Solana’s infrastructure supports both the creation and distribution of feature packed NFTs, making it the strongest contender for the growing sector the in crypto world.
On Solana, you see the entire gamut of people in the NFT ecosystem, from the traders, to the collectors, to PFP enjoyers. On the broader scale of launching, managing, and continuing to provide value on projects, only Solana has native support for programming and distributing NFTs at scale.