Non-Fungible Token is becoming a buzzword and it is moving upward and onward. Every month billions of transactions are happening in NFT spaces.

Most NFT is part of Ethereum blockchain and almost all NFT marketplace are part of Ethereum blockchain. With the growing gas fee on Ethereum and there is a huge rise and demand for the whole Solana ecosystem. 

Solana NFT ecosystem is growing and doing billions of transactions every day. With Solana’s dedicated marketplace and Solana-based NFT, projects are on the rise. 

So what are the most palpable advantages of Solana?

While the majority of the NFT projects are hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, it has several drawbacks. This includes slow transaction speeds, low scalability, and of course, the major issue nagging collectors and creators alike: the high gas fees. As a result, users are moving to other blockchains such as Solana, which has emerged as a leading competitor to Ethereum. There are a couple of reasons for this.

First, Solana can perform more transactions per unit of time than Ethereum. While Solana performs 65,000 TPS (transactions per second), for Ethereum, it’s just 13 TPS. Furthermore, the former has significantly lower gas fees—the average cost per transaction is just $0.00025. 

Additionally, as opposed to Ethereum, Solana uses the proof of history (PoH) model, which is much more energy-efficient. One transaction on the blockchain consumes just as much energy as two Google searches, according to Yahoo. On the other hand, Ethereum, which uses the proof of work (PoW) protocol, has an energy consumption equivalent to that of a US household for 6.88 days. 

Coming back to NFTs, Solana is starting to list some great projects with impressive roadmaps and online communities. In fact, its recent rally started right after launching one of its top NFT collections. When users flocked over to the Solana marketplace and purchased an NFT, they understood its way easier and less expensive than other Ethereum-based marketplaces. 

Today, we are going to explore some of the best NFTs projects listed on Solana and understand how they reached such a high-value valuation in just a few weeks. 

Best Solana NFT collections

Let’s take a look at the hottest NFT collections on Solana:

1. Degenerate Ape Academy

Degenerate Ape Academy is the top NFT collection on Solana by market cap, according to Solanalysis. To date, the blue-chip project has attained a market cap of over $603 million (at the time of writing). The collection features 10,000 unique “smoothest brained” apes engaged in “degenerate behavior”. Furthermore, the holders of the NFT get utility and exclusive access to the “Academy”. 

Like many of the blue-chip projects, Degen Ape is also backed by a strong community. While it has over 101,000 followers on Twitter, its Discord is 18,162 members strong. The collection’s traits, rarity, and striking 3D artwork have all made it a favorite among collectors.

Traits and Rarity 

The apes in the collection contain seven main physical features: head, body/clothing, fur/skin, background, eyewear, and mouth, and has 137 possible traits. Moreover, they also have a trait hierarchy system that starts from ‘Common,’ ‘Uncommon, ‘Rare,’ ‘Super Rare,’ up to the ‘Mythic’ level.

Buyers can also measure each rank’s value on the website’s ‘Academy Trait’ section and check their percentage, which indicates their likelihood of being minted. 

Community Vault 

The Apes team has allocated 10% of the total sales and 10% of the secondary market royalties into its Community Vault and will increase this percentage as it continues to establish its presence in the NFT space. 

A part of this fund will go to hiring team members and contractors to expand the Academy further, strengthen its position, and roll out new offerings. 

While the mint price was just 6 SOL, today, the floor has reached 54 SOL! Furthermore, the collection’s popularity has been instrumental in the growth of Solana.

2. Solana Monkey Business

Solana Monkey Business (SMB) is another blue-chip project on Solana. The collection of 5000 unique randomly generated monkeys aims to “reject humanity, return to make”. Each Solana Monkey was created from over 99 traits across six layers, with some NFTs being rarer than the others. The collection offers holder-only benefits, a community wallet, as well as a future voting system. Limited edition SMB merch is also on the roadmap. 

Perks of Early Adopters 

OG Monkey 

The first members who joined Solana Monkey Business’ Discord server last May 2021 received a special OG Monkey as the team’s gratitude for their early support. 

Monking NFT 

The first holders of a complete Gen 1 collection received a Monking NFT for their early support of the collection. 

Jungle Jams 

The collaboration between SMB and Audius, a blockchain-powered music streaming platform, gave birth to ‘Audius Edition NFT’, and was airdropped to the community.

MonkeDAO 

MonkeDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization composed of thousands of members pooling their various skills for the good of the community. 

This DAO is built to support and fund community-led projects that can fast-track innovations in the Solana ecosystem.

It also aims to improve the concepts of passive ownership and centralized value storage to bring better benefits to the organization’s members. 

3.Shadowy Super Coder DAO

GenesysGo is the Solana-based infrastructure provider of RPC and validator services within the ecosystem. The protocol’s objective is to assist developers in building and scaling their projects based on the Solana blockchain by providing the ecosystem’s developers with low-cost developer support and Mainnet RPC resources.

Shadowy Super Coder (SSC) NFT mint was a 10,000-piece NFT collection that cost 2.5 SOL to mint at a time when Solana was hitting its all-time high. It sold out in under nine hours.SSC also did it with less than 33,800 Twitter followers and less than 13,000 members in our Discord server.

4. Boryoku dragonz

Bōryoku Dragonz are an exclusive collection of 1,111 Dragon NFTs on Solana, backed by a top team of NFT collectors, designers, community builders, and artists. The project brings a fresh design to Solana, with daily token airdrops, a breeding game with token burning mechanics, and a multi-chain community that completely transcends a simple PFP offering.

5.MixMob

MIXMOB, the play-to-earn game powered by Solana. MixMob has already sold out the 5,000 Gen0 NFT Mask collection after their release on December 7 at 2 SOL per Mask. The NFTs give players their unique in-game identity, combining over 200 design elements, featuring 2D, 3D, pop culture, art, music, science, and more. There are some Masks available on Magic Eden, with a floor price of 4.80 SOL.

In addition to these, the team just introduced the exclusive MixMob Culture Drops, also on Magic Eden, but at a heftier floor price of 100 SOL. The OG Mask Winner #1 is the most distinguished NFT of the second collection, currently costing 69,420 SOL (around $7M).

According to their Roadmap, the team already completed all Chapter 1 Milestones, with the NFT sale, the community launch, and by establishing the factions and guilds. The most significant steps ahead between April and July 2022 include the release of a marketplace, the beginning of the battle with tournaments and staking features, and, later on, initiating a full MMO Universe and maturing the DAO. 

To play MIXMOB, you need a mask, which is a player’s unique identity in the game. Anonymous, yet accountable. The masks are generated from around 200+ individual components and include 2D, 3D, sketches, stickers, candy, pop culture, art, music, science. The mask’s key features are:

• 8 mask components – ears, eyes, nose, mouth, accessory, face, body, and background.
• 5 animal factions – pig, cat, dog, bull, ape.
• 4 rarity categories – mix n match, random matter, gold, and a surprise category.
• Membership to the MIXMOB DAO.
• Early access to the game much before it launches.
• Exclusive airdrops and rewards.
• Status in the game for being there from the beginning.

MIXMOB is a metaverse broken down into two phases. The first phase is a card strategy battle game where players compete, trade, and remix for NFTs and other rewards. The second phase is an MMO battle royale game where your mask and avatar go to a 3D world.

MixMob, Raises $7M in Funding Round

MixMob, a Metaverse game powered by Solana, has raised $7 million seed raising, led by DeFi-GameFi crypto-asset fund Defiance Capital. This game is based on Remix Culture, which combines both play-to-earn and user-generated content. Details

NFT DAO

10% of our initial mask sales towards a DAO that supports the NFT community by purchasing and holding the NFTs. Owners of Masks have voting rights towards which NFTs to purchase.

Additionally, the NFTs that we purchase via the DAO will be rewarded in our Culture Boxes in the game.

Furthermore, a 30% royalty fee from secondary Mask sales will be permanently allocated to funding the DAO in the long run.

Management decisions will be done through governance requiring a majority approval from NFT holders.

How does holding a Gen0 Mask benefit me?

Not only does holding a Gen0 Mask allow you to flex your title in our community and in the game it also provides you with additional perks as follows:

– Membership in our DAO, specialized role in our Discord, and access to exclusive channels.

– 3% of the 1B token MixMob IDO will be allocated to Gen0 mask holders in the following breakdown:

– 1,000 MXM tokens will be airdropped to each Gen0 Mask holder based on the amount of Gen0 Masks in their wallet(s). These tokens will vest linearly over a 6 month period;

– 25,000,000 MXM tokens will be rewarded as staking rewards, a maximum of 5,000 MXM tokens per Gen0 Mask, in our Gen0 Staking Club Program.

– Staking Club Program – in addition to earning MXM tokens, holders who stake their Gen0 Mask(s) will also receive periodic airdrops in the form of accessories for their Masks (e.g. limited edition glasses, hats, headphones, etc.) Staked Gen0 Masks can be used in-game. Masks must be staked for 1 year, continuously, in order to receive all rewards. Once a Mask is unstaked the Mask may not be re-staked for the remainder of the rewards.

– Early access to game slices and Alpha gameplay.

– Exclusive access to MixMob universe airdrops (e.g. MixBots, accessories, etc.)

Conclusion

Most of the projects on Solana are simply duplicates, and that needs to change. We have highlighted some good collections with excellent community support and a roadmap in the list given above. If you wish to buy some Solana NFTs, I recommend exploring the ecosystem first and then doing proper research and risk assessment on your desired NFT collection. 

DISCLAIMER: This is not financial advice. Staking, delegation, and cryptocurrencies involve a high degree of risk, and there is always the possibility of loss, including the failure of all staked digital assets.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas about the project, please email ventures@coincu.com.

Issac

Coincu Ventures