Bots. A major issue affecting the Solana Network that hurts our community, and an issue that many Metaplex users have been impacted by firsthand. Bots not only create congestion and cause outages on the Solana Network, but they also drive up the price of NFTs by immediately flipping them and boxing out true collectors. Our short-term solution for this has been to implement a tax on bots. In parallel, our team has been working tirelessly to explore effective long-term solutions for our community. 

Today we are proud to announce our partnership with Strata Protocol; by integrating Strata Protocol’s Dynamic Pricing Mint tool into the Metaplex Program Library, we take one significant step toward fairness for collectors, creators and the community.

We know this scenario too well. Bots swarm a drop, selling out an entire collection in seconds. Strata Protocol’s Dynamic Pricing Mint prevents bots from doing this. Effectively, the Metaplex and Strata partnership means the community determines the price of an NFT. Typical mints charge a fixed price for a set quantity of NFTs, which may be more or less than where the market would value the asset. With Strata Dynamic Pricing Mint, the mint functions like a real-time dutch auction. The price starts high and lowers with time, rising again with demand. Using this method of establishing equilibrium, the pricing will settle around a fair price for the NFT.

With Dynamic Pricing Mint, bots are disincentivized from spamming a project’s launch because the auction begins with a higher price. Additionally, the community-driven pricing dynamics create an unpredictable environment which is difficult for bots to exploit. The Dynamic Pricing Mint will also help prevent degraded network performance on the Solana Blockchain because it will no longer be advantageous for bots to spam transactions on the launch of a highly anticipated mint.
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Fairness for Collectors

During a typical fixed-price public mint, everyday minters have an extremely low chance of acquiring an NFT, competing against bots and click-farms. A lucky few gain access to a white list, an inherently exclusionary practice inconsistent with the inclusive ethos of web3. This new dynamic pricing mechanism means that minters have the chance to purchase the NFT at a fair price. 

Fairness for Creators

Dynamic pricing means that creators are compensated equitably for their work. In a public fixed-price minting process, the majority of the value is extracted by those looking to flip on secondary markets (currently, mostly botters.) If we want creators to choose Solana we have to capture value for them.

Fairness for the Community

NFT communities are built to last when they incentivize long-term holders and protect collectors who are truly passionate about the art. Beyond a better minting experience for all, a dynamic pricing mechanism is especially great for long-term holders as it can result in the project creators having more funding to implement their roadmap and future projects within their vision.

We are excited about this partnership with Strata Protocol and what it means for us as we aim to create a community that drives inclusivity for all.

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About Metaplex Foundation

The Metaplex Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to ensuring the long-term sustainable development of the Metaplex Protocol and application framework.

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