NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have had a massive two years of growth and adoption by the crypto community. Most recently, Solana has attracted a huge increase in users due to the network's quick transactions and low fees. These two reasons have opened up the NFT space for more casual collectors who couldn’t wrap their heads around the high fees associated with trading NFTs on Ethereum (the current market-leader of NFT volume).

While some people love NFTs, some people don't. And to each their own but NFTs are proving to be a powerful tool for artists and designers alike. Specifically for artwork, creators have an opportunity to profit off their creativity while emphasizing the benefits of owning intellectual property in a digital age.

One of the reasons Solana NFTs are exciting right now is because they are still very much in their infancy. Less than a year old, NFT sales on Solana have already exploded and offered life-changing opportunities for artists willing to embrace a change in how art is owned and distributed.

So without further ado, here are 8 NFT marketplaces that are starting to shape the landscape of digital art and collectibles on Solana.

**Some marketplaces may currently be in alpha or beta phases. Please use at your own risk and remember to DYOR (Do Your Own Research) when it comes to purchasing NFTs. This is NOT financial advice. NFTs do not necessarily have any intrinsic value. They also might be illiquid. If you buy an NFT, you are not necessarily going to be able to sell it later, or gain any specific utility from it. Watch out for imitators, fake websites, and absolutely never connect your wallet to any website you don’t 100% trust. Marketplaces will never ask for your keyphrases!

MagicEden.io

The big dog when it comes to NFTs on the Solana blockchain, Magic Eden has positioned itself as the #1 marketplace for Solana NFTs in a very short time. Boasting the largest user base, Magic Eden has seen ~615 million dollars in trading volume since its inception (According to DappRadar).

Solanart.io

Solanart is a close 2nd in terms of trading volume with a total of ~590 million dollars at this time. However, Solanart has had about half as many traders using their platform with around ~170,000, compared to Magic Eden’s ~300,000 users.

DigitalEyes.Market

Digital Eyes market comes in as the 3rd largest in terms of trade volume. With a notable dropoff compared to 1st and 2nd, Digital Eyes commands a still very respectable ~100M in volume since it’s start as a marketplace. 

The platform also offers collections a “Verifeyed” label meaning that the NFTs listed within the collection have been authenticated against the official mint hash list provided by the NFT project’s team. However, while that authenticity is a nice touch for a collection, it shouldn’t be a reason to think it’s ‘going to the moon’.

Solsea.io

Solsea bills itself as the first NFT marketplace that enables creators to choose and embed licenses when they mint NFTs. This feature offers creators and collectors a bit more control and transparency in terms of intellectual property. Solsea currently has an all-time volume of ~22M with ~53,000 traders.

Exchange.Art

The Exchange Art marketplace focuses on 1/1 of art, helping artists sell their unique pieces without having to have a massive 1,000+ piece collection. Exchange also offers users the capability to ‘Flex’ their NFT trades with a tiered status that rises with buys and sells on the marketplace. You can also bid on almost any NFT you find on Exchange, listed or unlisted.

Alpha.Art

Alpha Art’s present claim to fame is its ability to let users buy and sell Solana based NFTs without any listing fees (not that it’s the only marketplace that offers this though). And along with Exchange.Art, you can send an offer to any NFT on the marketplace whether it's listed for sale or not.

Solport.io

Sort of the new kid on the Solana block, Solport offers its user base a range of options, including; auctioning, rarity filtering, discord and telegram notifications for marketplace activity. Moreover, Solport has plans to offer tools and resources for streamlining the process of creation of NFTs in the future.

MilkyWay.Market

The Milky Way dubs itself as the only marketplace on Solana that aggregates and lists all NFTs. This provides its users access to all 1M+ NFTs directly from the Milky Way Market. It’s still quite new though and is currently in it’s alpha phase.

**This is not investment advice!

Filed in // Technology