This article focuses on how Solana might be the new hub for mainstream NFTs. Solana although less secure than Ethereum boasts fasters speeds and highly reduced fees.
Solana (SOL)
For a basic recap on Solana check out our previous article [here]. Solana is one of the fastest and cheapest blockchains to date. The network also has some of the highest institutional interest of all crypto projects. Solana is heavily backed by the FTX exchange, mainly Sam Bankman-Fried the exchange’s founder. Sam is a 30-year-old billionaire genius who traded his way to wealth by arbitrage trading crypto on various exchanges. He took advantage of the price discrepancy of like assets on multiple exchanges.
Sam has long believed that Solana has what it takes to bring crypto to the masses. When a blockchain boasts thousands of transactions per second over multiple months, it gets noticed[1]. Solana also has an average fee of .00025 cents, this is massively appealing. Ethereum, the industry leader is far more expensive and less than 1/10 the speed. Security however is priceless in this industry and Ethereum leads the market in that regard.
If Solana can solve its security problems, it could possibly bring crypto to the millions. With easy-to-use applications that boast affordable usage, and a pleasant, modern, and state of the art user experience this is a recipe for success. These features make Solana ideal for gaming, nfts, defi and the other major categories of the crypto market. Blockchain games and NFTs are just getting started and we have barely seen the tip of the iceberg.
Solana and NFTs
To fully grasp how the NFT market functions, users need to understand how vital Ethereum has been so far. Ethereum leads the market because it has the most secure transactions, and because the network is the leader, the highest NFT volume and hype. Users in the past would rather pay astronomical fees on Ethereum, than use a layer-2 solution (cheaper/faster) or another chain.
Today, Solana produced more volume on NFTs than the Ethereum network for a 24 hour period [2]. The reason this news is so massive is that you cannot buy the volume for NFTs, you cannot create another Bored Ape Yacht club. Users go where NFTs feel right, and since they have been willing to pay the huge Ethereum fees for so long, what has changed? The Solana OK Bears set has over 1.6million in Solana volume, even at today’s dumpster prices that’s about 80 million dollars. The floor price for a bear is a whopping 9-10 grand currently.
The volume was partly bear and partly another project the “Trippin Ape Tribe” which is a more artistic BAYC clone in my opinion. The point here is that the tides are shifting, will Solana be the new hub for NFTS? If this is the scenario, we expect the SOL token to soar when the market recovers, users will be able to have such easy access to their favorite NFTs. But NFTs are so much more than just JPEGs and cartoon art. This is just the beginning. When projects and companies provide use case, owner perks and creative ideas, the sky will be the limit. Check out our article on NFTs [here] to learn about some other use cases.
The best way to define an NFT is that is provides proof of ownership of something. This proof of ownership can one day represent common items we see today, including houses, cars, and other assets. NFTs are not the jpeg, or the art, they are the mathematical code that proves a wallet is the legitimate owner of an item. This is an imperative technology for many third world countries as well since deed theft and stolen identities are too common. Imagine having your house taken because someone made a fake copy of your deed, and it was simply your word against theirs. Therefore, NFTs will shine, maybe not in their current state, but the opportunity is there. Will Solana lead the charge?
[1] https://explorer.solana.com/
[2] https://decrypt.co/101342/solana-overtakes-ethereum-daily-nft-trading-trippin-ape-tribe
