After a long period of waiting, OpenSea created support for NFTs developed on the Solana network. For now, it is available in beta mode.
The long awaited moment
As reported by the official OpenSea profile on Twitter, as of April 7, NFTs created in the Solana network are allowed to trade on the platform.
“The moment you’ve been waiting for… Solana is officially available on OpenSea – starting today with our first beta!
Solana is the second largest NFT ecosystem after Ethereum. Until now, Opensea only supported NFTs from Ethereum. However, after numerous requests from users and multiple announcements, it decided to expand the scope of its offerings by including NFTs from the Solana network.
According to official data, the platform in its beta version supports 165 NFT collections created on Solana. The chain data shows that this includes up to 865,000 pieces of non-exchangeable tokens. These include sets such as Solana Monkey Business, DeGods, Degenerate Ape Academy, Aurory and Shadowy Super Coder.
Solana’s appearance in OpenSea had been anticipated for some time. Back in January, images were shown online indicating the platform’s integration with the popular blockchain.
A bumpy ride
The integration of Solana in OpenSea proved not to be the most successful one. The network is struggling with overloads, which it also experienced on April 7. Thus, NFT collections based on it disappeared from the platform for several hours. There has been speculation whether this will lead to OpenSea withdrawing from their commitment to the integration. However, there is no indication of this, especially since this blockchain has been experiencing similar problems for a long time and this is a well-known phenomenon. The co-founder of Solana Labs, Anatoly Yakavenko, reacts to them, suggesting that the fight against Solana’s overload is currently his top priority.
Solana surpassing Ethereum?
Solana is one of the most popular ecosystems of recent years. By many it is called the next Ethereum. However, such words should be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, it is a worthy rival for the Vitalika Buterina network. Solana offers lower transaction fees, is more energy efficient and guarantees a higher number of transactions at the same time. Although it struggles with congestion issues, its developers hope that it will become the leading network for NFT.
