DeGods Have Ascended: Solana NFT Project Soars Ahead of Buzzy y00ts Launch

As buzz builds around this week’s launch of y00ts NFT project on Solana— which has attracted celebrities and crypto influencers alike — awards for the team’s current NFT collection, DeGods, rose to new heights over the weekend. And in the last day, DeGods has topped all NFT projects in terms of trading volume.

DeGods topped a floor price— that is, the cheapest listed NFT on a marketplace — at 500 SOL for the first time on Sunday. At the time of writing, the word on the leading marketplace is Magic Eden sitting at 587 SOL, or nearly $18,650. That makes it the most valuable Solana-based NFT profile picture (PFP) project with at least 10,000 items, practically topping Solana Monkey Business at 192 SOL (about $6,100) on the low end.

In terms of the broader NFT market, DeGods’ entry price ranks fourth highest among PFP projects with at least 10,000 items. DeGod’s follows Ethereum-based Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunksand Moonbirds collections in that order, per data from NFT Price Floor. DeGods sits just above Mutant Ape Yacht Club on that list.

A flurry of DeGod’s secondary market sales helped push the floor price up this weekend, and the project topped all other projects on the market – including on Ethereum. Analytics Platform CryptoSlam reports $1.3 million in sales over 70 transactions in the past 24 hours, beating Bored Ape Yacht Club by nearly $1.1 million over nine transactions.

DeGods was launched in October 2021 as The Solana NFT market was heating upand the 10,000-NFT project gained significant momentum this spring amid the launches of DeadGods—an initiative that allowed DeGods holders to upgrade to newer artwork—and The DUST utilitywhich DeGods/DeadGods owners earn as a reward for staking their NFTs.

The project became further known in April when it bought the controlling stake of a team in the BIG3, a 3v3 basketball league founded by rapper and actor Ice Cube. BIG3 too sold NFT-based team stakes to, among others, rapper Snoop Dogg and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, and Ice Cube himself bought one of DeGod’s NFTs.

An NFT is a blockchain token which can serve as proof of ownership of an item, including items such as PFPs, digital artwork and collectibles. Solana is the second most active blockchain platform for NFTs behind Ethereum, and DeGods has recently led the charge as the platform attracts more collectors and increased visibility.

DeGod’s momentum has picked up considerably lately as the project’s creator – which is just passing by Sincere— plans to launch a new NFT collection called y00ts on Thursday.

Y00ts is a Solana-based profile picture project that will start with 15,000 NFTs, and it has curated its approval list — that is, a list of people approved to mint an NFT at launch — by requiring people to apply for a “scholarship” and then publicly post about those who have been accepted via the y00tlist Twitter account.

Along with a number of NFT influencers and community members, the list has grown to include celebrities such as football legend Wayne Rooneyentertainer Howie Mandelrapper Lil BabyYouTube star iJustineand former NBA star Allen Iversonalong with athletes, professional eSports players and other notable people from various industries.

Y00ts aims to differentiate itself from traditional PFP projects by implementing new forms of customization, along with ways for creators to make money. According to his white papery00ts plans to launch a store where holders can purchase and equip visuals for their NFTs from various artists, with the artists taking a cut of the royalties in the process.

Frank is well known in the Solana space as an outspoken creator, and his ambitions with y00ts may go beyond rethinking visuals and artist compensation.

ONE trademark filing (discovered by Twitter user GuitarCookies) suggest a wide range of potential y00ts cases, from NFTs and gaming to other entertainment initiatives, online services and more. It was filed by Mark Jansen of the law firm Fenwick & West, which counts the Bored Ape Yacht Club producer Yuga Labs among its notable customers.

As momentum builds around the year 00, DeGods reaches new heights and even challenges Ethereum NFT heavyweights on pricing. However, we’ll see if the y00ts launch lives up to the hype, and if DeGods also continues to build on this recent uptick.