Solana-based NFT marketplace leader, Magic Eden, has announced plans to refocus on its core platform after upstart rival Tensor briefly surpassed it in terms of 24-hour trading volume last week. The move has sparked renewed interest in Solana’s NFT market, with Magic Eden keen to reassert its dominance in the space.
Tensor, which launched in late 2021 and has since positioned itself as the “Blur of Solana,” beat Magic Eden in terms of 24-hour volume for the first time on April 26. Although the top spot was only held for a few days, the achievement caught Magic Eden’s attention and has led to a renewed focus on its home platform.
Since November 2021, Magic Eden has consistently been the top-performing Solana NFT marketplace in terms of trading volume. As of June of last year, the platform was valued at an impressive $1.6 billion. However, it has since expanded to other chains, including Polygon, Ethereum, and Bitcoin, which Huang believes took the marketplace’s focus off Solana.
In the meantime, Tensor has gained significant popularity and now holds a strong position right after Magic Eden, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard. It was helped in knocking off Magic Eden by the Mad Lads NFT collection, the first NFT collection released under the xNFT standard. According to Crypto Slam’s data, Mad Lads, a group of NFTs created by startup Coral, has attained the fourth position in terms of sales volume in the last 30 days.
Both Tensor and Magic Eden have offered incentives for the Mad Lads collection. Tensor has promised to use all the fees collected from Mad Lads for the next three months to buy back NFTs and reward them to traders on their platform. This offer provides an excellent opportunity for traders to benefit from their Mad Lads collection. On the other hand, Magic Eden waived trading fees for 24 hours after the minting process and extended it to 72 hours post-mint. Additionally, it provided an exciting prize pool of 2,000 SOL tokens for the top 50 Mad Lads traders who would participate for 30 days until May 21.
Despite its brief loss of the top spot, Magic Eden’s response has been positive, with over 5,000 SOL given away as part of its incentives program. As Huang explained, the marketplace aims to take a fresh approach by focusing on product innovation to elevate the user experience to new heights. Additionally, they plan to form strong ecosystem partnerships and prioritize community involvement to ensure their platform remains accessible and relevant to its users.
