Metaplex January Round-up 2025

Highlights

• Fungible Tokens - Over 12MM fungible tokens have now been minted with Metaplex, including 1.8MM in January, the highest month of all-time.

• AI Agent Integrations - Leading AI agent kits and platforms (SEND AI, Griffain, OctonetAI) integrated Metaplex, making it easier for devs and creators to deploy and manage digital assets.

• Metaplex Earn - The Metaplex Earn Campaign kicked off, tripling total onchain liquidity for $MPLX to $7.7MM.

• Protocol Fees - Protocol fees exceeded $4.3MM, a new all-time high. This was fueled by new tokens launched and consistent adoption of Core for NFT creation.

• $MPLX Buyback - 12,000 SOL of Metaplex Protocol fees were used to buy back 9.19MM $MPLX (~1% of total supply) for the Metaplex DAO.

Protocol Activity

In January, 1.9 million Token Metadata assets were created, the highest monthly total to date. Of these, 1.78 million or 94% were fungible tokens, a 40% MoM increase. Cumulatively, over 12 million fungible tokens have been minted using Token Metadata, accounting for more than 23% of all assets since the protocol's inception.

January saw consistent use of Core for asset creation, with 396k Core assets minted, making it the second-highest month of all-time. This brings the total number of Core mints to over 2 million, highlighting its continued adoption and growth.

In total, creators and developers minted 44 million digital assets through Metaplex in January, including 42 million compressed NFTs.

1.35 million unique wallets directly signed transactions with the protocol in January, a consecutive monthly all-time high and an increase of 38% MoM.

In January, Metaplex was the third largest Solana protocol based on transaction quantity and the fourth largest protocol based on active wallets.

As of January, the total number of Metaplex collectors exceeded 98 million unique wallets, reflecting 13.8 million new wallets, the second largest monthly increase of all-time. 860k new wallets collected a Token Metadata asset and 12 million new wallets collected a Bubblegum NFT, the largest and third largest monthly increases for each program, respectively.

Developer Platform

Aura

January marked another milestone month for Aura, Metaplex’s decentralized data network for Solana and the SVM. Developer adoption increased significantly to kick off 2025, while network performance continued to improve over the course of the month.The network processed over 110 million read requests on Eclipse and Solana, further expanding its role as a core infrastructure component to Solana and the SVM ecosystem. Aura’s rapid performance and simplified data access are redefining how developers interact with onchain data, making it faster and more efficient than ever.

Aura’s latest benchmarks showcased a major performance improvement. Newly created assets now get indexed and are accessible in less than 100 milliseconds, providing near-instant availability for developers.

Scalability has also been a major focus. Since September, Aura’s read capacity has grown 100x, reaching 1,600 reads per second (RPS) in January, positioning Aura as a high-throughput solution for the most demanding applications.

Additionally, Aura’s documentation received an upgrade, including the API documentation for developers to integrate Aura easily into their workflows.

Looking ahead, Metaplex will increase access to the Aura network with the introduction of a public gateway. Additionally, the network’s staking and rewards economy and node operator portal are in development.

AI Agents

AI-driven automation is reshaping the onchain economy, with new tools making it easier for AI agents to interact with Metaplex.

SendAI created the Solana Agent Kit and integrated with Metaplex, enabling AI agents to autonomously create digital assets and tokens. Griffain also partnered with Metaplex, introducing AI-powered NFT and fungible token mints that let users generate assets with simple text commands.

OctonetAI launched SANA, the new Solana AI NFT Agents powered by Core. Each SANA NFT comes with unique usernames, customizable attributes, and onchain AI capabilities that can be trained, updated, and rented out. The project expands the role of AI in NFT ownership, enabling autonomous, interactive agents that can engage with users, generate content, and integrate into various applications.

As AI continues to merge with the onchain economy, these innovations are setting the stage for more automation, accessibility, and new ways to create and manage digital assets.

Token Metadata

Memecoins took center stage in January with the launch of the $TRUMP token, along with additional memecoins launching based on members of the presidential family. Our latest article explores the rise of memecoins, their role in the attention economy, and how they stress-tested Solana’s limits, as well as Metaplex’s foundational role in powering these launches with the Token Metadata standard. Token Metadata remains the most popular standard on Solana for fungible token and memecoin launches.

Permissionless tokenization is the foundation for the onchain economy, with Metaplex powering the infrastructure to create, distribute, and manage assets at scale. This trend is expected to grow under the Trump administration as new types of projects explore how to launch a token as a way to bootstrap their community and build their brand.

Documentation, Guides & Articles

January brought a wave of new resources, guides, and insights to support developers building with Metaplex.

The Metaplex Spotlight Series launched this month, highlighting projects that are reshaping the onchain economy with Metaplex programs, products, and standards. The series explores origin stories, product-market fit, and how teams are leveraging Metaplex to power their applications. Early features included SendAI, which is integrating AI agents with Metaplex to automate digital asset creation, and jpegs.fun, a platform that simplifies NFT creation with fair launches, instant liquidity, and community-driven pricing models.

New developer tools also went live. The MPL-404 UI template provides a prebuilt front-end for hybrid collections, featuring Next.js, and Tailwind, with built-in swap functionality and escrow updates.

With these updates, Metaplex continues to expand the tooling and education available to developers, making it easier to build, experiment, and scale in the ecosystem.

Metaplex DAO

Metaplex Protocol Fees & $MPLX Token Purchases

The Metaplex ecosystem continues to grow, fueling record-breaking $MPLX buybacks this past month. In January, 12,000 SOL (~$2.5M) was used to purchase 9.2 million $MPLX (~1% of total supply), marking the largest buyback to date.

Each month, 50% of Metaplex’s protocol fees—both historical and monthly—are allocated to buying back $MPLX for the Metaplex DAO. January saw protocol fees reach 19,529 SOL (~$4.3M), driven by permissionless asset creation and tokenization across Solana and the SVM.

With over 195,000 SOL in cumulative protocol fees generated, Metaplex remains at the center of the onchain economy, providing the infrastructure for tokenization at scale for Solana and the SVM. The Metaplex DAO continues to serve as a hub for governance, protocol development, and ecosystem expansion.

Metaplex Earn Campaign

After being approved by the DAO in December, the Metaplex Earn campaign officially launched in January, introducing new liquidity incentives for $MPLX holders. Developed by  Forgd in partnership with Kamino, Orca, and Jito, the campaign offers participants a way to earn additional rewards by providing liquidity for the newly created $MPLX - $JitoSOL pair.

Through Kamino’s automated vault, users can deposit assets with no lockups while earning a share of 1M $MPLX, 5k $JTO, and 2k $ORCA in rewards over two months. The initiative is designed to deepen onchain liquidity while introducing $MPLX to the DeFi ecosystem in Solana.

The campaign saw immediate traction, with Kamino’s Earn Vault reaching 80% capacity in under 48 hours, bringing $MPLX’s total onchain TVL to $5.5M. Then, the vault reached full capacity, leading to a cap increase, and total onchain liquidity for $MPLX has now reached $7.7M. To educate the community, Metaplex also hosted a live Spaces with partners to discuss the campaign’s mechanics and impact. 

With liquidity incentives in full swing, Metaplex Earn is positioning $MPLX as a deeper part of Solana’s DeFi stack. More updates on Season 1 will follow as rewards continue to be distributed weekly.

Metaplex DAO Grants

Metaplex, in collaboration with the Solana Foundation, continues to support builders through the BuildWithMonkeDAO Grants Program, which reviewed 29 new applications in January.

The latest grants were awarded to XCombinator, an AI incubator and launchpad focused on emerging AI technology, community building, and investment opportunities. Another grant went to the Rubians team working on the game BigDiggas, which is integrating Core into Solana’s Godot SDK.

MIP-11: Core Groups

A new Metaplex Improvement Proposal, MIP-11, is currently up for a vote in the Metaplex DAO. Proposed by mallow.art, this MIP introduces Core Groups, a new account type in the Metaplex Core program that allows 1/1s and Master Editions to be organized under a single structure, similar to how collections function in Token Metadata.

The proposal aims to make collection management easier in Core by allowing creators to group different asset types together, maintaining the same authority validations as collections. The community feedback period concluded on January 17, with strong support from builders looking for better organization tools.

Voting is now live and will remain open for 14 days. If passed, MIP-11 will move forward as a Metaplex Foundation implementation, expanding the flexibility of Core for creators and developers.

Community

Metaplex Evangelist Campaigns

The Metaplex Evangelist Campaign wrapped up in January after five weeks of rewarding community members for sharing and educating others about Metaplex. Each week, 19,000 $MPLX was distributed to top posts covering key topics.

Across the first four weeks, the campaign generated 1.33 million impressions, with participation from hundreds of creators. Topics covered Metaplex Core, permissionless tokenization, decentralized governance, the onchain economy and the role of Metaplex, as well as Aura.

AthensDAOx

The Metaplex team attended AthensDAOx, a two-day conference in Athens, connecting with developers and creators exploring onchain opportunities. Scharko engaged with builders throughout the event, while Leo and Tony hosted presentations, joined panels, and led workshops on Metaplex Core and more.

Day one focused on discussions and panels, setting the stage for a hands-on second day. On day two, Leo and Tony ran multiple workshops, giving developers practical experience with Metaplex.

Metaplex at mtnDAO

Metaplex is a title sponsor for the seventh edition of mtnDAO, the premier startup summit for Solana builders happening throughout February in Salt Lake City. Known for fostering some of the ecosystem’s most ambitious projects, mtnDAO has become a hub for founders, developers, teams, and investors.

As part of the sponsorship, during the first week of February, Metaplex is hosting three workshops, an AMA, daily office hours, and a ski day to connect with builders and provide hands-on support for projects integrating Metaplex.

Solana Developer Bootcamp NYC

Metaplex was on the ground in New York City for the Solana Developer Bootcamp, where builders gathered for a three-day, in-person deep dive into Solana development. Andre, Metaplex Devrel, joined the event, helping participants explore Metaplex’s tooling and integrate it into their projects.

The bootcamp covered core Solana concepts, tokens, web3.js, Rust, and Anchor, giving attendees hands-on experience with Solana’s developer ecosystem. With growing interest in onchain development, Metaplex continues to support new builders entering the space.

Superteam Japan x Google x Metaplex GameJam

Metaplex joined Superteam Japan, Google, and Honeycomb for the latest GameJam, a web3 gaming event focused on pushing the boundaries of onchain game development. The event brought together builders, developers, and industry leaders to explore the future of gaming on Solana.

Yuki from the Metaplex Japan community led a workshop on gaming and Metaplex, diving into how Metaplex enables fully onchain game assets and new game economies.

Astrocast: Onchain Gaming

January featured a deep dive into the future of onchain gaming as Metaplex BD Scharko joined the Astrocast podcast to discuss how Metaplex is powering fully onchain gaming assets. The episode explored the evolution of gaming architectures, the shortcomings of past models like Play-to-Earn, and how Core is enabling more robust digital ownership in games.

Scharko also touched on how Metaplex Aura could play a key role in the next wave of gaming on Solana, providing the infrastructure needed for high-performance, decentralized game economies.

Application Ecosystem

January saw continued expansion across Solana and Metaplex’s application ecosystem, with new projects launching and existing platforms integrating Metaplex.

• The White House issued an executive order on digital assets, signaling strong support for blockchain. The order reinforced the right to self-custody, promoted regulatory clarity, backed stablecoin growth, and banned CBDCs, setting a new tone for the future of digital assets in the U.S.

• jpegs.fun went live, introducing fair launches, instant liquidity, and tools that make NFT creation, all powered by Metaplex.

• OctonetAI introduced SANA, AI-powered NFTs using Core. These digital assets store AI data onchain, allowing users to train, update, and even rent AI agents.

• Triad migrated to Core, improving its digital asset-powered rewards system with a more efficient and scalable architecture.

• SEND Arcade launched a personal Solana AI assistant on Telegram, allowing users to check balances, transfer $SOL, swap tokens, and deploy NFTs and tokens via Metaplex.

• Eden announced its launch on Solana and its partnership with GameShift to bring high-stakes gaming to Solana, leveraging onchain assets for a competitive web3-native experience.

• DeepSolana Studio announced its integration of Aura for AI-powered NFT minting. Built with DeepSeek AI, Groq, and Perplexity AI, the studio allows Cheshire Terminal Art to generate and mint digital assets on Solana using Metaplex’s Candy Machine and Aura.

• Dungeon.cash introduced a new approach to onchain gaming, where every prompt sent to the AI Dungeon Master is recorded as a cNFT. This system allows players to track every interaction, creating a permanent record of the game’s evolving state.

• Backpack acquired FTX EU, pushing Solana deeper into regulated crypto markets. The team behind Mad Lads, a collection powered by Metaplex, completed the $32M acquisition, sending the collection’s floor price past $18,000.

• Securitize announced its integration with Solana. Institutional-grade financial products like the Apollo Diversified Credit Securitize Fund ($ACRED) gain access to fast, low-cost, high-throughput transactions on the chain. While primarily focused on RWAs, this move aligns with the broader adoption of onchain assets.

• Portals migrated to Metaplex Core and announced $PORTALS, its official network token. The migration introduced Core-based assets with a new art reveal, reinforcing Portals’ expansion into gaming, virtual worlds, and AI-driven experiences.

• WIDI launched the first AI-powered Blink Generator, enabling instant NFT creation. Users can generate custom Blinks by interacting with an AI Agent, with the first 500 participants receiving token rewards. The team also introduced Agent Catfather, an AI-driven Telegram bot for tracking wallets and sniping tokens directly from Raydium and Pump.fun.

Creator Ecosystem 

January saw creators continue to push boundaries, using Metaplex to build onchain communities and engaging audiences through digital assets. Here are some of the most notable highlights from the month:

• Donald Trump, the new U.S. president launched his own token called $TRUMP, which quickly gained traction and hit over $9 billion in market cap and fueled a wave of politically themed tokens on Solana. Soon after, $MELANIA followed, sparking further launches from figures within the new administration.

• Rus, Vine founder, launched the $VINE coin, which surged to $500 million in market cap amid speculation around Elon Musk potentially reviving Vine spread.

• Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Venmo co-founder, launched $JELLYJELLY, a token tied to his upcoming video-sharing app. The token, powered by Metaplex, quickly hit a $250 million market cap. Holders are promised early access to JellyJelly, an AI-powered platform for recording and sharing video chat clips.

• MonkeDAO made the SMB Gen 2 collection immutable, ensuring their permanence on Solana. Powered by Metaplex, this move cements Monkes as a lasting part of the blockchain.

• Claynosaurz plans to launch staking and a collector's achievement system in Q1 2025. This upcoming feature will allow holders to actively participate in the Claynosaurz ecosystem by locking their NFTs to earn rewards, including in-game assets.

• Publique launched its first 1/1 character auction, introducing their hand-crafted digital collectibles. Focused on storytelling and world-building, Publique is building a new type of onchain narrative experience that allows collectors to own unique characters as NFTs.

• Entropy acquired the Catalina Whale Mixer NFT collection, expanding its presence in the Solana ecosystem. Known for its vibrant community, Catalina Whales is one of Solana’s most recognizable collections on the chain.

• Hermans Club announced $HOOP, the token powering its NFT ecosystem. Built around character-based collectibles, Hermans introduces a unique licensing model where holders own individual characters that extend beyond the wallet into storytelling and media.

• Dazed Ducks launched its Dazed Truffle Ducks collection on January 1, leveraging Metaplex Core and Truffle HQ for a hybrid mint. The project highlights the importance of supporting smaller teams and communities eager to learn and contribute to the space.

Follow @metaplex on X for ongoing community updates. You can also subscribe to receive these monthly updates directly to your email here. Developers should follow and turn on notifications for @metaplexstatus for the latest updates. To contribute to the Metaplex protocol, engage with us on GitHub or submit a Metaplex Improvement Proposal (MIP) at mip.metaplex.com.

Lastly, thank you to TopLedger for their data support on this month’s round-up. They provide real-time monitoring of Metaplex activity and usage to the ecosystem. For additional Metaplex onchain metrics, please refer to the following link.