Top 5 Solana NFTs by Sam

Solana NFTs

NFT projects are getting more complicated, and to stand out it’s often necessary to create something more than just a nice-looking PFP. The lines between NFTs, DeFi, GameFi and the metaverse are getting more blurred, but that’s all part of the fun.

Something you might want if you’re buying into a project is not just the possibility of a quick flip, but a long-term hold with well-planned future benefits. Membership of a community is good, and tokens, staking and yield farming are going to keep people on board by offering, potentially, some attractive returns.

With its very low transaction fees and high speeds, Solana is home to a lot of projects that are promising this kind of action, so let’s take a look at some interesting ones, but be warned, there is a strong preference for pixelated animals in the Solana NFT space.

<h2 id=”1.-turtles”>1. Turtles

A collection of 3,333 turtles that has seen various airdrops and has minted the $TRTLS token. You can pick up the NFTs on secondary markets starting at a little over 8 SOL, and the token on Solana DEXes such as Jupiter and Raydium.

The $TRTLS token can be used to play at Solcasino, and coming soon, according to the roadmap, is an NFT staking mechanism by which to earn $TRTLS.

2. Ubik

Being upfront and honest is a good sign when assessing a project (always be on the lookout for rug pulls and cash grabs), so when a team posts thoughtfully about tokenomics, as Ubik has here, that’s a big positive.

Ubik are creating a “lofi metaverse” and an “electric sheep world”, and come on, who wouldn’t want to be part of those in these uncertain times?

There are native tokens, $POT and $NET, staking and airdrops, DAO plans, and some far-out ideas you can dive into in the Sheepaper called things like fission and mutant.

<h2 id=”3.-space-apes-empire”>3. Space Apes Empire

This is a collection of 1,111 space-themed apes, linked to SolPlinko, a very simple gambling game. You don’t need to own one of the ape NFTs to play the plinko game, but ape holders can earn a share of the profits from SolPlinko.

Additionally, there are plans to integrate with Portals and Desolates, both metaverse projects being built on Solana. The NFTs are currently selling from around 4 SOL.

4. Honey Finance

This is a protocol aiming to link up DeFi and NFTs. The problem identified is that NFTs are illiquid, and Honey Finance aims to solve the opportunity cost of holding NFTs by opening up liquidity on your NFT assets.

Options the platform will provide include borrowing and lending, and NFT farming through which you can earn the $HONEY token. According to the whitepaper, you’ll be able to stake NFTs from various collections, but the primary method of farming will be through staking the native Honey Genesis Bee NFT.

5. Lion Cats

At just 799 NFTs, this is a very low supply collection, and so it costs around 30 SOL to buy in at floor price. If you do so, you’ll be the owner of a cute pixelated feline, which you can then utilize to earn $IMBA tokens.

Earn enough $IMBA and you’ll be able to breed your cat, after which there is the promise of further utility and developments. It’s not cheap to join and the endgame is unclear, but for the moment at least, Lion Cats has been picking up momentum.

More Solana NFT Projects

There are many other projects offering these kinds of models, although the floor prices on some of the bigger projects are currently high so it’s a more substantial initial buy-in. To find out more, you might want to check out some of these well-established projects: Mindfolk, Taiyo Robotics, Boryoku Dragonz, SOL Flowers, Shadowy Super Coder.

There’s also MonkeDAO, which is an independent spin-off from Solana Monkey Business, one of the bluest-chip Solana projects, but there’s some drama unfolding around the two groups.

There’s ongoing disagreement over royalties, with the possibility that MonkeDAO could do something akin to a hard fork of the original project, wrapping SMB NFTs and enabling sellers to redirect royalties towards MonkeDAO rather than SMB.

One more project to highlight is MonkeRejects (I know, more monkeys). It has nice visuals and promises a token and staking, along with real-life physical products. This one is picking up attention and the floor is below 4 SOL, making it worth considering as a decent future prospect.

Solanalysis to Hyperspace

Staying in the Solana ecosystem, you might be familiar with Solanalysis, a very handy NFT data tool. In recent developments, the site has now been rebranded as Hyperspace, after raising $4.5 million in a seed round.

Solanalysis is still live as migration to the new site continues, but Hyperspace will also act as an aggregator across the various Solana NFT marketplaces, and you’ll be able to buy and sell NFTs through the new site.