Developer Platform
Aura
Following its initial announcement in September, Aura transitioned to its private beta phase, marking the next step towards decentralized, high-performance indexing & data availability (DA) for Solana. During this beta phase, select developers will receive early access to indexing powered by Aura.
Designed to make onchain data more accessible, Aura delivers unified data access, the latest Digital Asset Standard (DAS) methods, and best-in-class indexing performance. Already demonstrating lightning fast response times, Aurawill continue to be improved upon through developer feedback and refinement during the beta. Following the beta, Aura access will be opened via a public gateway and network landing page, aggregating all asset-related read requirements into one highly accessible, performant package.
Developers interested in accessing the beta can fill out this form for consideration: https://forms.gle/hbWFsHEEMTmshiPf9
Core
October’s 346k Core mints were another monthly all-time-high and brought the cumulative Core mint count over 800k. Alongside this growth, two new Core Candy Machine Guards were released. These new Core Candy Machine Guards were successfully deployed to both Solana and the Eclipse mainnet:
Vanity Mint Guard - Allows mints only if the public key matches a specified pattern, adding new possibilities for exclusivity.
Asset Gate Guard - Restricts mints to users holding assets from a specified collection, offering gated access to minting events.
Token Metadata Optimization
In preparation for Token Metadata’s full immutability, a new optimization was deployed on Solana mainnet that minimizes the program’s onchain footprint. This enhancement reduces the size of all new TM accounts, lowering storage costs and easing validator workloads by minimizing onchain state data. These benefits ultimately contribute to a less congested, more efficient network.
Following this deployment, Metaplex introduced the same optimization for existing Token Metadata accounts by allowing NFT holders to optimize the network directly using a new Resize instruction. This instruction also enables the release of excess SOL not previously accessible without fully closing (aka burning) the Token Metadata accounts.
To facilitate access to this new benefit, Metaplex also provided a free, no code UI for NFT holders to execute the Resize instruction. Other ecosystem teams have also released alternative tools that offer a paid service for processing the Resize instruction, such as Sol Incinerator (5% of the resize amount).
There are ~25.7M eligible Token Metadata NFTs with Token Metadata accounts that are eligible to be resized (as of October 30th). 0.0023 excess SOL can be claimed per Master Edition and 0.0019 excess SOL can be claimed per Edition.
NFT holders have until April 25, 2025 to proceed with this optimization. We encourage all NFT holders to take advantage! After this window, any remaining TM accounts that have not been resized will be optimized and the resulting excess SOL will be contributed to the Metaplex DAO. The DAO will decide how the excess SOL is used, for example via airdrops to community members, grants to ecosystem builders, or other initiatives.
Please check out the FAQ if you want to learn more.
Bubblegum
In October, Metaplex deployed updates to the Bubblegum program to mainnet, following its initial release on devnet in September. This update includes support for expanded tree sizes enabled by SPL Account Compression, enhancing scalability for cNFTs on Solana and the SVM. Additionally, a minor but important change was implemented to align Bubblegum’s metadata management with the Token Metadata standard: updating metadata via a delegate now requires the Data role rather than the Collection role, providing more consistent behavior and increased security.
In addition, a new JavaScript package was published to support these updates, allowing developers to integrate and utilize Bubblegum’s expanded features more seamlessly.
Documentation & Developer Guides
In October, Metaplex introduced several new guides to support developers building with Metaplex:
Serializing and deserializing transactions with Umi. This guide explains how to manage transactions on Solana by serializing and deserializing them using Umi, enhancing efficiency for developers working with transaction data, and providing an approach that enhances security and control, particularly for digital asset creation workflows.
Creating Core assets with JavaScript or Anchor. A practical guide that walks developers through creating Core assets step-by-step using JavaScript or Anchor.
Creating a Core collection with JavaScript or Anchor. This guide covers how to create collections of Core assets, by grouping and configuring these assets together under a single collection.
UMI documentation update. An updated reference guide consolidates Umi’s functions to simplify the use of native Solana programs, ensuring developers can quickly access essential resources for a better developer experience.
How to create 1 Million NFTs with Bubblegum. An in-depth guide which demonstrates how to leverage the scalability of cNFTs using Bubblegum, detailing how to set up a Merkle tree structure for minting large numbers of compressed NFTs while keeping costs low and efficiency high on Solana.
Diagnosing transaction errors on Solana. A practical troubleshooting guide for developers facing transaction errors on Solana. It covers how to skip pre-flight checks to log failed transactions on-chain, making it easier to share diagnostic data and resolve issues more efficiently.
)
