Magic Eden pays you to buy and sell Solana NFTs
Magic Eden focuses on Solana NFTs with a new initiative. Illustration of Fortune
NFT marketplace Magic Eden is returning to its Solana roots and paying traders to use the platform in a so-called “chapter two” initiative.
That will include trying to launch NFT aggregation on Solana, open-sourcing more of the code, and – for a limited time – paying traders a small bonus for buying and selling Solana NFTs.
In recent months, Magic Eden has lost its long-standing position as the second most popular NFT marketplace behind OpenSea. It now has just 2.1% of the total NFT market share by trading volume, according to CoinGecko. Although Magic Eden is the leading Solana marketplace, it has also faced pressure on the blockchain from upstart marketplace Trensor, which raised $3 million in a seed round in March. Magic Eden was valued at $1.6 billion after a $130 million funding round last June.
In an effort to compete with OpenSea and Blur, which use crypto airdrops to incentivize traders, Magic Eden will introduce a -0.25% fee for NFTs. Essentially, it will pay traders SOL when they sell a Solana NFT or when their offer to buy a Solana NFT is accepted. If you list an NFT for 100 SOL, or around $1,924, on the marketplace, you will get 100.25 SOL when sold, an extra $5, Magic Eden wrote in a Twitter thread. If you make an offer for an NFT worth 100 SOL, you will receive an extra 0.25 SOL when your bid is accepted. The amount of SOL a user receives will be higher depending on the price of NFT.
The new initiative and refocus on Solana comes as the marketplace has expanded to also list Ethereum and Bitcoin NFTs. The pivot back to Solana is also a vote of confidence in the blockchain, which has seen a flurry of new activity and is the third most active behind Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of trading volume.
The initiative was largely well received by NFT traders on Crypto Twitter. Others cheekily pointed out that the way Magic Eden wrote “chapter two” could easily be confused.
I read this as chapter 11, chapter II is much better 😆🎉
— Permissionless II (@Permissionless) 25 May 2023
I like the direction Magic Eden is taking. The latest moves are good for the NFT ecosystem and Solana NFTs. Healthy competition often fosters innovation and drives progress. #magiceden #nfts #solannft #nftmarketplace https://t.co/1OtXOyqXba
— Zoe (@zozosfriesverse) 25 May 2023
What’s really amazing is that I haven’t seen anyone but one or two people mad at the magic oath for that announcement
Do you realize how insane that is?
— bunjil (@notbunjil) 25 May 2023
Magic Eden did not immediately respond to a request for comment Fortune.
