OpenSea Marketplace Rolls Out Red Carpet for Solana NFTs With an Aim to Expand Blockchain Portfolio

OpenSea is ready to showcase Solana blockchain-based NFTs on its online marketplace starting April. With this, OpenSea will expand its blockchain support to include a total of four networks — Ethereum, Polygon, Klaytn, and Solana. Essentially for NFT collectors, the move opens doors to a whole different category of digital collectibles that are built on the Solana blockchain and are loaded with special features and benefits that come along. OpenSea has posted a short video on its Twitter handle, confirming the development.

“The best kept secret in Web 3,” OpenSea captioned its video that showed people asking the NFT marketplaces questions like “Wen Solana?”

The move will also benefit creators choosing Solana for their NFTs due to its cost being lower than that of the Ethereum blockchain.

The blockchain also claims itself to be more energy efficient. In a November 2021 Energy Use Report, Solana claimed that two Google searches consume more energy than a single Solana transaction.

While Ethereum is the top choice for NFT makers to build their virtual collectibles on, Solana is not far behind.

As per data tracker CryptoSlam, Solana ranks second in all-time NFT sales. Currently, Solana NFTs see most sales on Magic Eden marketplace.

The speculations around OpenSea opening support for Solana had begun making the rounds since the start of this year.

Reverse tech engineer Jane Manchun Wong, in January, had spotted codes in the OpenSea algorithms that hinted at its Solana tests.

The sales of NFTs reached $25 billion (roughly Rs. 1,84,700 crore) in 2021 as the speculative crypto asset exploded in popularity, data from market tracker DappRadar showed.

In recent days, the competition in NFT sales has risen with the launch of other NFT marketplaces. In January, newly launched LooksRare marketplace had recorded a sales volume of $394 million (roughly Rs. 2,912 crore) within just three days of its launch.