Highlights

- Usage of the Metaplex protocol reached an all-time high of 15.8 million NFTs created in September, the fifth consecutive record-breaking month

- The Metaplex Foundation facilitated the release of several improvements to the protocol’s developer experience including a new multi-platform mobile SDK and deeper support for Compressed NFTs through the release of a dedicated Bubblegum rust client and enhanced documentation within Metaplex’s Developer Hub

Protocol Activity

In September, creators and developers minted 15.8 million NFTs with Metaplex, representing the largest volume in a single month since the protocol’s inception and the fifth record breaking month in a row. In just eight months, over 57 million compressed NFTs have been minted through Bubblegum, the on-chain program for creating and interacting with compressed NFTs on Solana.

In addition, ~170,000 unique wallets directly signed transactions with the protocol in September, with approximately equal share coming from Metaplex’s Token Metadata and Bubblegum programs.

As of September, there are 8.2 million unique wallets that currently hold a Metaplex NFT, an increase of ~600k unique wallets month-over-month. This is driven in large part by compressed NFTs, one of the leading approaches to onboarding new users to web3.

Developer Platform

Multi-platform Mobile SDK

Metaplex facilitated the release of  the Kotlin Multiplatform SDK for Solana, a groundbreaking toolkit designed to facilitate seamless interaction with the Solana blockchain across multiple platforms.

This SDK offers a number of key features for developers including:

- A unified codebase targeting Android, iOS Ecosystem, and JVM, streamlining Solana projects with native performance across platforms

- Effortless construction and management of Solana transactions including secure signing using robust signer modules

- Metaplex Digital Asset Standard API support for an enhanced developer experience and data availability

- Full NFT and compressed NFT compatibility

- RPC support and enhanced serialization capabilities for streamlined data handling 

- EDDSA keypair generation including enhanced security framework for Solana apps

- Optimized, resource-efficient modular design

Compressed NFTs

Continuing to improve the developer experience around compressed NFTs, Metaplex released Bubblegum v1.0.0 Rust SDK, a dedicated client SDK with minimal dependencies. This is a major release that offers a clearer interface for interacting with Bubblegum, powered by Metaplex Kinobi.

Metaplex’s Developer Hub also now includes updated documentation on Bubblegum, the on-chain program underpinning compressed NFTs. Metaplex’s new guides make it easier than ever for developers to create and interact with compressed NFTs on Solana.

Token22

In September, Metaplex completed the initial development for integrating Token22 into Token Metadata, adding support for Token22 owned accounts to create Fungibles and NonFungibles. The code is currently undergoing an audit review, after which it will be deployed to devnet and then mainnet.

Application Ecosystem 

The ecosystem of applications and services built on Metaplex continues to grow with a variety of new use cases experimenting and discovering product market fit.

• Collector 2.0 debuted this month with Curations. Each curation functions as an independent Auction House contract, spotlighting, promoting and selling artists’ work. 
• Magic Eden, one of the leading NFT marketplaces on Solana, launched support for buying and selling compressed NFTs.
• Sniper also launched its compressed NFT marketplace, making it the fourth marketplace on Solana to support compression. 
• Underdog, a platform for minting, managing, and claiming digital assets on Solana, launched two major features this month including Shop and Passport. Shop is a no-code storefront builder for creators and brands to give their supporters digital goods using compressed NFTs. Passport enables users to interact with digital goods from their favorite apps with any web2 login such google, apple, and others.
• Drip, a platform for connecting creators and collectors using compressed NFTs as free digital collectibles, released Ultimates, which are designed for 1/1s and ultra-low supply NFTs ‍
• Bonfida is now offering SNS domain holders the ability to personalize their domain cards with limited edition backgrounds from Solana artists using NFTs

Creator Ecosystem 

Solana creators are discovering new ways to build-on chain communities and attract audiences through NFTs. Some highlights include: 

• Raposa is building a global coffee brand through a blend of art, coffee, and community. They recently received FBA approval on Amazon, which means all Raposa products will soon be available across the United States as an Amazon Prime product with free 1-2 day shipping. 
• Clear Collectibles is a digital collectibles art and design project on Solana. This month they launched Clearverse, a new homebase application built with Interlace that’s designed as an all-in-one traffic source for supporting user social activity, delivering on-chain and off-chain rewards, and gamifying the user experience with layers of engagement tracking tech and point utilities. 
• MonkeDAO, one of the preeminent DAOs on Solana and home of the Solana Monkey Business community, launched the Banana Shop, powered by Interlace. This loyalty platform enables holders to exchange bananas, MonkeDAO’s social currency, for NFTs, raffle tickets, in-person event passes, merch, and much more. 
• Bullyzcrew is a web3 entertainment startup that recently launched its first on-chain mini-game for NFT holders that’s free, gasless, and fun. Players can earn a variety of prizes for sending their Bullyz and shipz on treasure hunting expeditions.

For on-going community updates, please follow @metaplex on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). For developers, we recommend following and turning on notifications for @metaplexstatus. To contribute to the Metaplex protocol, please engage with us on Github or consider submitting a Metaplex Improvement Proposal (MIP) at mip.metaplex.com.

Lastly, a thank you to TopLedger for their data support on this month’s round-up and providing real-time monitoring on Metaplex activity and usage to the ecosystem.