Have you ever heard about “Solana NFTs”? If not, you’re missing out on a tremendous opportunity.
When it comes to decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), one of the most popular blockchains is Ethereum. But aside from the Ethereum blockchain, developers can build on other blockchains, and one particular one that stands out is Solana.
Solana is a public, open-source blockchain founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko. It is built on a host of a wide array of scalable dApps, and its native token is SOL.
Currently, Solana is ranked amongst the top 20 crypto assets in 2022.
Solana addresses several concerns many users have, such as cheaper and faster transactions. And like most blockchains, it also supports the use of smart contracts.
As the Solana network continues to grow, the number of users moving to Solana is increasing exponentially. Due to this, Solana NFTs have proven extremely popular on Web 3.0. However, incorporating new blockchains and NFT marketplaces remains a daunting task.
Discover how to make the most out of Solana NFTs through this brand-new perspective.
What Are Solana NFTs?
A Solana NFT is simply an NFT stored on the Solana blockchain. Without a basic understanding of NFTs, it won’t help. Let’s talk about an NFT first in order to understand Solana NFTs.
An NFT is a blockchain-based certificate that verifies ownership. These cryptographic assets contain unique metadata. The concept of fungibility relates to the quality of interchangeability. But a Solana NFT is non-fungible, meaning you cannot exchange it for another.
Solana NFTs differentiates itself from the majority given that it is incompatible with Ethereum Virtual machine (EVM). These cryptographic assets use a unique coding language, Rust, instead of Solidity. Also, for Solana to deliver incredible throughput, it blends PoH and PoS.
Proof of History is a method used to validate the order of the sequence of transactions. The Proof of Stake is the node where the network commits tokens for a period in exchange for the opportunity to validate the next block for a reward.
What Makes Solana NFTs Different?
Considering many blockchains developers can use for their NFTs project, what makes Solana special?
One good reason to consider Solana is that it is the second-largest blockchain network after Ethereum. Also, the network is designed to host scalable and decentralized applications. As such, content creators and even investors are flocking to the Solana blockchain to create NFTs and build a marketplace to facilitate NFT trading.
Below are some of the features of Solana that make it excel for NFT projects.
1. Interoperability
One way Solana blockchain is different is that it provides robust interoperability. The layered architecture of Solana is what makes it have such interoperable properties. As such, Solana blockchain makes it super easy to manage and trade digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, personalized records, NFTs, and so on.
Also, the interoperable nature of the Solana blockchain makes it easy to buy and sell NFTs across platforms. Essentially, this property supports Solana’s goal of providing flexibility and decentralization.
2. No Mempool Problem
Another area where Solana differs from other blockchains is that users don’t have to worry about the Mempool challenge. The mempool is a waiting area for transactions that are waiting or not confirmed to be added to a new block. The mempool problem is an issue often encountered on blockchains like Ethereum.
The problem with mempool is that it can be time-consuming. But Solana overrides the mempool problem, which boosts the network’s transaction speed. The Solana-based NFT marketplace has the edge over others in transactions that are yet to be confirmed or take too long to be confirmed.
3. High transaction speed
Another feature of Solana that is worth noting is its transaction speed. Many popular blockchains, like Bitcoin, have a speed of around seven transactions per second, while Ethereum has a speed of around 30 transactions per second. But Solana has a speed of around 3000 transactions per second. Each block gets processed in about 400 milliseconds. Solana can execute a transaction at incredible speed with such a short block time.
In other words, the Solana network is as efficient as MasterCard and VISA and can be used for running apps in real time.
4. Programmability
Programmability is a feature every developer or content creator considers when choosing any blockchain. As for the Solana blockchain, it supports a much better scalable and customizable programming language.
The Solana blockchain uses programming languages like Rust, C+, and C++ for its dApps, NFTs, and other projects. On top of that, the Rust programming language is highly scalable, making it easy for developers to modify and add functions to the working of an NFT marketplace. But compared to other programming languages like Solidity, Rust is much harder to learn.
5. Low Transaction Fees
Unlike some blockchain that charges extra for faster transaction speed, Solana has a relatively low transaction fee. The transaction fee is often around $0.00025, which, compared to other blockchain networks, is significantly lower.
Lower transaction fees and additional features like interoperability, programmability, and so on make it a highly lucrative and ideal platform for developing an NFT marketplace.
How To Invest in Lucrative Solana NFTs Project?
Investing or finding a lucrative Solana NFT project is like every other business venture; it begins with accurate information and good research. As a beginner, it’s understandable if you need help knowing where to begin. In this section, we’d elaborate in a step-by-step guide on how to get started with a good Solana NFT project.
Step 1: Choose a type of NFT marketplace
The first step towards finding or investing in a good Solana NFT project is choosing the type of NFT marketplace you want. There are 2 main types of NFT marketplace: generalized NFT marketplace and specialized NFT marketplace.
A generalized NFT marketplace trades all types of NFTs, including collectibles, gaming, art, sports, music, etc. At the same time, a specialized NFT marketplace trades only a specific type of NFT, for example, an NFT platform dedicated to trading only arts. So figuring out which marketplaces will work best for your end objective is a good place to start.
Step 2: Analyze and draft the requirements
The next step is to understand what kind of product you want clearly. There are many NFT projects on the market. So, knowing what you want and drawing up a requirement for the functionality, design, and even external integrations is essential. While you are at it, also think about the legal aspect of the project.
Different rules guide the type of NFT projects allowed in a particular jurisdiction.
Step 3: Hunt for a development company
You can start searching for a technical partner as soon as you know what you want. This development company is responsible for implementing your idea into code. For creating an NFT product, a team with vast experience with DeFi or NFT development and blockchains like Rust and Merehead comes in handy. So, take a moment to study the portfolio of any development company that meets the criteria to handle your project.
Step 4: Decide on a monetization strategy.
Now that you have onboard an NFT marketplace and a development company, you can sit down with them and evaluate your monetization strategy. You can use many strategies, such as monetization through subscription fees, listing charges, or even NFT sales. Discuss the monetization strategy you want to use with your development team to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Step 5: Develop the UI/UX design and write the program code.
At this stage, it’s time to jump into the development process. A well-thought-out UX and UI design and programming code is key to the success of any NFT project. Considering the relatively new NFT industry, your NFT solution must have an intuitive and simple interface design. Also, when writing the program code, the developers must ensure the smart contracts are well written, and wallets with NFT support are connected.
Step 6: Beta testing and launching
When the project development is complete, one more step before launching the project is to test it. Beta testing is necessary to ensure there are no bugs or errors in the project. Because if you miss any security loopholes, your project may face some serious threats from hackers. But if, after the test, no bugs are found, then you can finally launch the project.
Step 7: Customer support and maintenance
As a final step, after launching the project, you can focus on providing excellent customer support. Good customer support is crucial to the success of your NFT project. Users will have questions or even complaints, so your customer support team must be ready to handle every customer’s queries.
Top Solana NFT Projects
Regarding utility, the Solana blockchain differs from the Ethereum blockchain.
Below are some of the top Solana NFT projects.
1. OKBear
OKBear is one of the top Solana NFT projects, with a collection of 10,000 NFTs.
It was launched in April 2022 with a mint price of 1.5 SOL, quickly soaring to over $18 million in sales. The OKBear project has generated more trading volume than any individual Ethereum project.
2. DeGods
DeGods is another Solana-based NFT project launched in October 2021 by Dust Labs. The DeGods NFT project is a deflationary collection of 10,000 NFTs made of degenerates, misfits, and punks. When it was launched, the mint was 3 SOL, but today, each NFT is worth around 365 SOL. When launching, 2500 DeGods NFTs were sold in presale, leaving 7500 for public mint.
3. Y00ts
Y00ts is a Solana-based NFT project developed by Dust Labs, the same team behind the popular DeGods collection. Launched in September 2022, Y00ts is a collection of 15,000 NFTs featuring drawn images of sheep faces.
The Y00ts had a mint price of 22 SOL, but the current floor price is around 101.48 SOL. Y00ts is one of the highly anticipated Solana-based projects worth a total value of over $5.6 million.
4. Solana Monkey Business
The Solana Monkey Business is the Bored Ape Yacht Club of the Solana ecosystem. Launched in August 2021, the Solana Monkey Business consists of 5000 pixelated monkey NFTs made from over 99 traits with varying rarity levels. At the time of launching, the Solana Monkey Business had a mint price of 2 SOL, but today it is worth around 220 SOL. The Solana Monkey Business project has a record sale of $2.1 million.
5. Cets on Crecks
Cets on Crecks is another Solana-based NFT project that came to light in March 2022. It consists of around 7000 digital arts designed by 313Labs. The mint value of the Cets of Crecks at the time of launch was 2 SOL, but today, the floor price is around 65 SOL. The total trading volume of 377.4k SOL.
Conclusion
Conclusively, creating an NFT project on the Solana blockchain is worthwhile. The Solana blockchain offers several benefits: faster transaction speed, scalability, and a wide range of services. As you can see from this guide, several successful Solana NFT projects are even more successful than some popular NFT projects on other blockchains. With the Solana blockchain, the sky’s the limit to what developers can achieve!
Hi, my name is Brandan Henry, and I’m an NFT, Blockchain, and Research enthusiast, as well as a content writer for NFT-onomics. I’m deeply passionate about exploring the potential of NFTs and blockchain technology. My mission is to educate people on the capabilities of non-fungible tokens and their applications. I stay up-to-date with the latest NFT news and trends, and as a full-time writer, I excel at generating creative, out-of-the-box ideas surrounding NFTs.
