Solana, the blockchain known for its lightning-fast speeds and minuscule transaction fees, set a record at the end of the year that’s worth talking about. In December 2023, Solana eclipsed Ethereum for the first time ever in monthly sales volume of non-fungible tokens.
While the blockchain has given Ethereum a “run for its money” in the past, topping Ethereum in daily NFT sales volume before, the data collected from CryptoSlam marks the first time Solana has beat out Ethereum in NFT sales for an entire month.
Here are some key takeaways from the story:
- Solana NFT sales hit $366.6 million in December, compared to Ethereum’s $353.3 million.
- Trades marked as “wash trading” were excluded from both blockchains: Solana saw about $10.1 million in wash trades excluded from the data, while Ethereum had over $380 million excluded.
- Solana’s all-time-high occurred in October 2021, when it saw about $373 million in NFT sales. That occurred in a bear market.
- Solana saw 6.6 million NFT transactions with nearly 218,000 sellers and 279,000 buyers.
- Ethereum saw 6.98 million NFT transactions with around 114,000 sellers and 143,000 buyers.
Some are attributing the increased activity of NFT trading on Solana to the significant rise in the price of the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency $SOL, which is up around 700% on the year (even after last night’s crypto “crash”). But perhaps the reason lies more in the cheapness and seamlessness of trading NFTs on Solana, which is appealing to new traders getting their feet wet in Web3.
Either way, the blockchain that once pegged itself as “The Ethereum killer” appears to be within striking distance of its biggest competitor. Only time will tell what lies ahead for Solana and Ethereum, but the data from December shows that healthy competition is at play on the two strongest blockchains for non-fungible tokens — which is good news overall for the space.
Solana in Review
This time last year the price of $SOL was hanging around $13, and many skeptics took the once popular and highly touted blockchain for as good as dead. Today, the $SOL token has rebounded to nearly $100 a coin, and the latest news of increased NFT activity on the network has many in the space bullish for Solana in 2024.
So how did Solana rebound in 2023? Well, At Rarity Sniper, we’ve covered dozens of stories about Solana building its brand. Here are the top headlines:
- December. Solana Phone Loaded with $BONK Token Sells Out
- December. Tensor Takes Top Spot for Solana NFT Marketplaces
- November. Solana NFT Project Mad Lads Soars Amid Ecosystem Boom
- September. VISA Expands Cross-Border Settlement Program to Solana
- May. VISA Expands Cross-Border Settlement Program to Solana
- July 2022. Solana Opens a Physical Store in Manhattan
Guessing which blockchain will be a winner can be an exercise in futility, since ultimately, none of us knows what lies ahead. But with the price of its native crypto soaring over the past year, the backing of major institutions like VISA, and this latest report about NFT trading on the blockchain — Solana appears to be as good as a bet as any.
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