NFT Collection y00ts push Solana’s trading volume to highest since May
Move over, Ethereum – Solana NFTs are having a moment.
Trading volume across Solana-based NFT marketplaces such as Magic Eden and Metaplex reached $115 million on September 6 – the highest since May, according to data from The Block Research. The number of new NFTs created on the Solana blockchain also increased to 300,000 on September 7th, a significant increase from the 39,000 NFTs minted on September 4th.
Magic Eden, the most popular Solana-based NFT marketplace, also increased its market share of the total NFT market to 36.6% as of September 7, from 12% at the beginning of the month.
The jump in activity on the Solana blockchain comes as a rare bright spot amid the broader NFT market, which has slumped in recent months. Monthly trading volume in Ether on the most popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea, fell 62% from May to July, and fell further in August, according to crypto-tracking platform Dune Analytics.
Although Ethereum is the most popular blockchain for NFTs, hosting blue-chip collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Cryptopunks, the most popular collection in the past seven days has been the Solana-based y00ts mint t00b, with more than $10.5 million in trade volume , according to data from DappRadar. Over the past week, y00ts has outperformed both the most popular NFT pool, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and the Ethereum Naming Service, which saw its own recent trading surge.
The floor price for the y00ts pool, or the lowest price for a single NFT in a pool, was 131 SOL, or about $4,949, as of Wednesday, according to NFT marketplace aggregator Hyperspace.
Dust Labs, a tech startup associated with both y00t’s NFT collection and the most valuable Solana NFT collection, DeGods, announced that they had raised $7 million last time week from several high-profile investors, including FTX Ventures and Solana Ventures.
The rise of NFTs on Solana comes after the network has struggled with long downtimes. In June, the blockchain was down for more than four hours when validators on the network failed to reach consensus, meaning new transactions could not be recorded on the blockchain.
Still, the price of trading on the Solana blockchain has been one of the biggest draws. Because Solana uses proof of stake, rather than proof of work, fees are traditionally lower compared to Ethereum’s. At Metaplex, a popular NFT marketplace on Solana, the cost to mint an NFT is about 30 cents, according to The Block. Magic Eden does not charge any fees for coins, but 2% in trading fees.
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