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- Solana\u2019s market share of total NFT trading volume rose from 7% to 24% in the last six weeks<\/li>\n
- USD value of NFT trading volume is \u201cstill far higher on Ethereum,\u201d per Blockworks Research<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Solana kicked off October with an hours-long service interruption<\/a> \u2014 the blockchain\u2019s 12th such outage in 2022 \u2014 an especially sour note, especially after a month of surging NFT mints and daily volumes rivaling Ethereum.<\/p>\n
Solana\u2019s market share of the total trading volume rose from 7% to 24% in the last six weeks, according to<\/a> Delphi Digital.<\/p>\n
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Solana in September posted higher daily trades volumes than Ethereum. The number of unique buyers increased by 34% month over month, according<\/a> to data from Dune Analytics.<\/p>\n
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Ethereum NFT volume may have decreased since April, but the newly-converted proof-of-stake blockchain<\/a> is still the top dog when it comes to NFT sales. It houses \u2014\u00a0by far \u2014 the most blue-chip collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing to keep in mind is that USD value is still far higher on Ethereum,\u201d Blockworks Research Analyst Sam Martin said. \u201cProject creators can wash trade on Solana to artificially pump volume due to low transaction fees, whereas on Ethereum, that would be far more expensive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Solana\u2019s less-than-$200 trades and lower gas fees have enabled \u201cmore interaction and participation\u201d than the Ethereum network, analytics platform Nansen reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEthereum\u2019s role in the NFT space will gravitate toward stores of value. In contrast, Solana will become and, to some extent, already is the hotbed for trading, newer collections, and creators looking to access the global market,\u201d Nansen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Solana\u2019s \u201cy00ts: mint t00b\u201d project had the highest 30-day trading volume on both OpenSea and Magic Eden. Dust Labs \u2014 the company behind Solana\u2019s most valuable NFT collection, DeGods project \u2014 released y00ts at the beginning of September<\/a>. The design reveal has yet to take place.<\/p>\n
The y00t mint ran on Metaplex, an NFT protocol for creators on Solana. More than 4 million wallets have held Metaplex NFTs to date, a sphere of similar reach to Ethereum\u2019s ERC-721 standard, according to the company. One million Solana NFTs are minted every 18 days through the Metaplex network.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Solana\u2019s growth may well be tied to the rapid pick-up of the entire NFT market, following an end-of-2021 slide that decimated the collective market capitalization of all digital collectibles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the idea that NFTs can become \u201cidentity tokens\u201d and foster community \u2014\u00a0including the especially tight-knit holders of y00ts and Degods, is something worth betting on for Solana, according to Stephen Hess, the former Solana Labs product chief and current Metaplex CEO.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you change your profile photo, you\u2019re signaling your membership to a group,\u201d Hess told Blockworks. \u201cYou\u2019re kind of constructing your identity online. When we zoom out, we see this as the beginning of decentralized social networking.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there may not be a flippening in the cards just yet, Solana is gaining ample ground. The proof-of-stake protocol has racked up 9.89 million cumulative trades worth $1.1 billion, while Ethereum has registered 13.38 million cumulative trades worth $16.5 billion, per data<\/a> from Flipside Crypto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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