The Solana NFT Alliance
Forming the Solana NFT Alliance to move towards a common standard for Solana contracts
The Solana ecosystem needs to move towards a common token standard. Solana has observed phenomenal growth over the course of 2021, positioning itself as one of the leading blockchains for decentralized computing. However, for continued growth, those in the Solana ecosystem must converge on a common contract standard collectively.
Countless projects have turned to the low-fee high-throughput settlement network of the Solana blockchain as incumbent platforms suffer from slow transactions and huge swings in fees. However, as it stands, Solana-based projects are applying widely varying standards when it comes to their tech stack and token codebase. This has fragmented the ecosystem and acted as a headwind to adoption.
Introducing the Solana NFT Alliance
For this reason, Burnt Finance, along with other leading projects building on the Solana blockchain, is forming the Solana NFT Alliance to promote a common tech standard among Solana-based projects.
The List of Initial Members:
- Burnt Finance
- Phantom
- Bonfida
- Austin Virtis
- Metaplex
- Solarians
Ethereum has successfully maintained the position of being the leading decentralized computing blockchain. It hosts the largest share of decentralized applications and the majority of the NFT ecosystem also resides on the chain.
A key part of Ethereum’s success has been a common tech standard (e.g. ERC20, ERC721) adopted by major projects across the ecosystem. Solana lacks such a standard and will struggle to maintain its strong pace of growth if it fails to adopt one.
What is the Solana Standard?
As part of open-sourcing their activities, NFT storefront builder Metaplex released the code and standards surrounding their Solana contracts. These contracts will serve as the standard for members of the Solana NFT Alliance. Further instructions for implementation can be found here.
There are several advantages to adopting the above contract metadata as the standard for the wider Solana ecosystem. The contract codebase provides versatile control to those that implement it. Users can participate in a wide variety of auction types for the asset that is coded in the standard while also being able to embed a wide variety of critical data and references to external resources into the contract. The remainder of this article will cover some of the technical upsides to adopting this standard.
- The standard introduces the concept of Royalty ensuring artists can continue to earn on their work into perpetuity.
- The concept of editions can also be implemented into the metadata. Artists and creators can issue several editions of their work, creating interesting possibilities for revenue generation and iterations upon previous work.
- The concept of MasterEditions adds a further layer of possibilities with the contract standard. This establishes a “Master” NFT in which the user specifies how many copies to mint.
- From a MasterEdition, a user can also create Open Edition contracts which allow further copies of the contract to be easily created. With open editions, you maintain the minting authority and can easily mint any number of tokens.
- Open Edition and Limited Edition auctions can be carried out. With Open Edition auctions, an unlimited number of NFTs can be minted. With Limited Edition auctions, the creator specifies a maximum amount.
- The metadata allows each NFT to easily keep track of its parent, edition number, external resources, etc.
- By creating MasterEditions, the minter takes away minting rights from the creator. This facilitates seamless exchange of NFTs among parties to the minting rights transition with each sale
- NFTs can also be easily created without the intention of an auction being carried out. Users can simply fill the metadata and not turn the NFT into a MasterEdition.
- It will be possible for Solana-based wallets to incorporate the metadata of NFTs to showcase the NFTs in their wallet.
- The metadata is sufficient for coded NFTs to function independently of other contracts. However, they can easily be coupled or integrated with other contracts at a later date.
Overall, the above standard provides creators and marketplace participants with a significant degree of control over NFT assets. Some creators may tailor their NFTs for personal use while others might specify the contract so that it is optimal for auctioning.
As the Solana ecosystem continues to grow, it is imperative that we adopt a common contract standard among projects. The Solana NFT Alliance is being formed for that reason and the standard it adopts will give significant control and versatility to creators and collectors alike.
About the Solana NFT Alliance
The Solana NFT Alliance is a collective of projects who promote a common standard among Solana-based projects. A common contract standard will help the Solana ecosystem continue to grow and attract further development on its low-cost high-throughput blockchain. Common contracts have long been established in the Ethereum ecosystem and have played a huge role in the maintenance of its leadership position. The Solana NFT Alliance is established by Burnt Finance and promotes the open-sourced contract released by Metaplex as the standard for the Solana ecosystem.
About Burnt Finance
Burnt Finance is the first fully decentralized auction protocol on Solana. Burnt allows users to take auctions into their own hands, enabling the minting and trading of any asset in an entirely permissionless ecosystem. The platform can support auctions for synthetics, NFTs, digital assets, and much more. Given its unique Solana-based architecture, Burnt is able to achieve unparalleled transaction speeds with negligible fees.
