The NFT scene in Solana has had a difficult month due to creator royalty conflicts. Aptos, which is on the rise, might benefit.
On Crypto Twitter, enthusiasm for the Solana NFT market has been in limited supply recently as platforms push back on paying author royalties. Trading activity is decreasing, and it may not be due to negative bear market sentiments alone: competitor blockchain network Aptos appears to be taking some Solana NFT traders’ attention—and dollars.
Aptos, the so-called “Solana killer” funded by $350 million in venture capital, released its mainnet last week, much to the chagrin of crypto watchers, who attacked the quantity and distribution of the APT token and stated that the blockchain was technically unimpressive.
Aptos monkeys and mingos
Despite this, Aptos NFTs are selling, with its main project—Aptos Monkeys—currently outperforming all other NFT collections on both Solana and Ethereum in terms of 24-hour trading volume.
Since its October 18 debut, Aptos NFT marketplace Topaz has collected $5.46 million in NFT deals.
According to Topaz statistics, Aptos Monkeys alone have produced more over $2.3 million in trade volume (253,000 APT) since its inception on Tuesday afternoon. In comparison, the most popular collection on OpenSea right now is CryptoPunks, which has generated 559 ETH, or over $800,000, in the previous day.
According to Oxclickbait, trading volume on Topaz is “essentially increasing every day.”
Aptos does not currently have NFT data analytics tools that aggregate public blockchain data, but the statistics supplied by Topaz are consistent with the volume of transactions witnessed on the marketplace thus far.
Over the previous day, Topaz’s claimed trade volume nearly matches that of Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden. Over the last 24 hours, Magic Eden has reported 58,100 SOL worth of NFT deals, totaling $1.8 million, compared to $1.71 million for Topaz.
Other data obtained by analytics platform Dune indicates a mainly decreasing trade volume pattern for Magic Eden over the previous several days, with volumes ranging from over 100,700 SOL on Friday to 58,400 SOL on Monday, with the marketplace peaking at roughly 79,400 SOL on Tuesday.
Market-wide, data analytics platform Nansen says that Solana NFT trading activity has plummeted 33% in the last 30 days compared to the prior period—2.08 million SOL, down from 3.08M SOL—after suspected market-manipulating wash transactions were deleted from the data. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s NFT market is up roughly 6% during the same time period.
Crypto Twitter is rife with examples of Solana traders discussing entering the Aptos area, which some compare to the early days of Solana NFTs. The change may explain the fluctuations in liquidity in both markets.
People say Solana dead
I would say mostly Solana on pause
Momentum shifting the other way as we lose royalties and Aptos launches
Once we get back royalties and Aptos gets pilled up with trash
Momentum shifts back
— Cozy ⓣhe Caller 🚀 (@cozypront) October 24, 2022
Aptos Monkeys has made the most impression on the embryonic blockchain, but the pixel-art, flamingo-themed Aptomingos has also made a significant impression, gathering around 100,000 APT ($882,000) in trading volume to yet. The cheapest Aptomingos NFT is presently available for 78.5 APT (almost $700).
Aptos Monkeys has created substantially higher trading volume on Topaz in the previous 24 hours than the top Solana NFT project—DeGods offshoot y00ts—has generated on Magic Eden (5,700 SOL, or $177,000).
Our conclusion
The shifting momentum is also driving some aspiring creators away from Solana, with NFT projects including Zodiac World, Mogu Dragonz, and Aptos Top Sharks proclaiming that they are “going to Aptos” to capitalize on the enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, current project Okay Bulls announced today that it will transfer to Aptos, allowing NFT holders to exchange their NFT for an Aptos version.
This pattern has riled some Solana supporters on Crypto Twitter, since they recollect what occurred with Near Protocol, a platform that employs the same Rust programming language as Solana.
As with Aptos, there was initial excitement about NFTs on Near, and many Solana traders came in to attempt to capitalize on the opportunity—but it didn’t last. According to DappRadar, the top Near marketplace Paras has seen less than $5,000 in trade volume in the previous day.
It remains to be seen if Aptos repeats the quick boom-and-bust cycle or becomes the next Solana, but the early momentum is rising. With Bruh Bears and other predicted mints still on the horizon, traders will be looking to see if Aptos can pose a prolonged challenge—especially if Solana NFTs recover.
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