TL;DR
With the Solana ecosystem generating hype, there are some interesting developments happening around Solana NFTs, with developments around SPL-404 tokens–which combine NFTs and fungible tokens–partnerships and connections with meme coins, and some previously established collections that have remained resilient or maintained a presence.
Solana has been getting a lot of attention recently, for reasons we’ll go through in a moment, but one aspect of the ecosystem that’s a little overlooked right now is Solana NFTs, so let’s assess where Solana NFTs might go from here, which collections stand out, and we’ll pick up on some interesting developments happening just outside the main crypto spotlight.
Meme Coins and Solana NFTs
First, let’s recap why Solana has been doing well this cycle: there are low transaction fees, a decent UX (although there have been recent problems with network congestion, patches are reportedly on the way), and an explosion of interest in meme coins. And those low fees are related to the meme coins because–higher conviction holds aside–the capacity to YOLO in and cash out quickly, without caring about gas fees, is a big positive.
As for NFTs, it’s plausible that profits from meme coins might stay in the Solana ecosystem and–at some point as the cycle progresses–cross over into NFTs, but what’s more, several new projects are working on combining NFTs and fungible tokens, and there are some meme coin connections already in place, as we’ll see.
Mutantmon
Produced by Mutant Labs and partnered with the Abblecoin meme coin, Mutantmon–which has a comfortable 8-bit vibe, is leading the way in utilizing SPL-404 tokens. The SPL-404 token standard may be a little obscure right now, but it’s a way of combining NFTs with regular, fungible tokens, so that one NFT in a collection corresponds to a certain amount of fungible tokens, potentially bringing together the differing positive characteristics of both meme coins and NFTs.
In Mutantmon’s case, the fungible tokens are called MUTANT, one NFT is equal to 10,000 tokens, and the project states that it is “the first generative semi-fungible collection on Solana”, and that it mixes “the deep liquidity of a memecoin” with “the collectability of a traditional NFT project”, and will feature a re-minting process. Where this kind of set-up might lead, remains to be seen, but it brings increased flexibility, and besides the Abblecoin connection, Mutant Mon has also announced a partnership with Mall Street, another project to keep tabs on, but more on that–along with what’s meant by re-minting–below.
Mall Street
Marketing itself as “a Hybrid SPL-404 PFP collection”, the yet-to-mint Mall Street is taking a similar path to Mutantmon, as it plans to bring together the uniqueness of individual NFTs and the liquidity and flexibility of fungible tokens. That means, again, that one NFT will equal a certain number of fungible tokens, and it will also feature a process called “generative re-minting”, whereby switching between fungible tokens and NFTs can result in the creation of newly configured PFPs.
The artwork looks a lot like Doodles (but less pastel-toned), and it’s launching in partnership with Magic Eden, which is currently moving into position as the leading NFT marketplace.
Gogonauts
As we’ve talked about Mutantmon and Mall Street, let’s also mention one more SPL-404 project, called Gogonauts. This one is an upcoming generative PFP collection (if you liked the visual style of NFTs in 2021/22, then you’ll like this), it will be launching its NFTs alongside corresponding tokens called NAUT, and, like Mutantmon and Mall Street, it will involve a gamified re-minting feature.
It’s also notable that GogoNauts is being developed by Rove, a Web3 entertainment platform that’s gaining increased traction, and so the NFTs could potentially bring holder benefits within that ecosystem.
Mad Lads
As the leading Solana PFP collection, Mad Lads has to feature in any NFT overview, acting as the most obvious Solana flex contender to which cash can flow when meme-rich profit-takers want to throw some SOL around.
After minting in April 2023 at 6.9 SOL, the Mad Lads floor price climbed to an all-time high of almost 220 SOL in December 2023, and although it’s now back down to around 135 SOL, this is a collection that looks relatively unfazed by the meme coin meta, and that resilience could be a telling signal.
Elements
If you’re into memes, then you’ll no doubt be familiar with WEN, which is one of the leading cat coins (yes, meme coins fall into animal categories) and was itself launched in January this year from the basis of a fractionalized NFT (of a poem called A Love Letter to Wen Bros.)
WEN also launched its own open source NFT standard, called WNS (which means Wen New Standard), and the first full NFT collection launched on that standard is a PFP drop called Elements. The Elements collection was created by crypto portfolio tracker AssetDash, it offers–along with other benefits–rewards boosts for holders who use SuperSwap (a token exchange app from AssetDash), and it has that early connection with WEN in its favor.
Solana Monkey Business
An OG Solana collection from the days when NFT apes were thriving in the spotlight, Solana Monkey Business still has an active community, and might be capable of finding new buyers in a bull run.
Its Gen 1 and Gen 2 PFPs launched in 2021, with Gen 3 selling in 2023/24, meaning there are plenty of pixelated monkeys to go around. All in all, this project–which is way down from all-time highs but could potentially make some gains again–looks like a survivor, so if you were searching for a worn-in PFP from the first wave of Solana NFTs, then Solana Monkey Business might be a decent bet.
