Magic Eden is the world’s most popular Solana NFT marketplace, with over 10 million unique users and 20,000 daily transactions. It lets users sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including art and music NFTs.
In August 2022, the company announced it would release Ethereum NFTs, though its primary blockchain would remain Solana. It also released an optional royalty model in October 2022, replacing the 2% platform fee.
In this article, we’ll look at what the Magic Eden marketplace is, how it works, who founded it, and its unique launchpad feature.
What Is The Magic Eden NFT Marketplace?
Magic Eden is a decentralized NFT marketplace where users can buy, create, sell and trade Solana and Ethereum NFTs.
The platform showcases a range of NFT collections, including digital collectibles such as Okay Bears, y00ts, and the Degenerate Ape Academy, as well as music NFTs and gaming collectibles.
As the world’s most popular Solana NFT marketplace, 90% of all secondary Solana NFT platforms are completed on Magic Eden, which has a trading volume of over $1.44 billion.
Magic Eden raised $27 million during its Series A funding round, helping it compete with other NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea. In July 2022, Magic Eden raised an additional $130 million in a Series B funding round, which was led by Electric Capital and Greylock. Magic Eden was valued at $1.6 billion following this second funding round.
As of December 2022, Magic Eden users have access to a marketplace where they can search using different categories such as “Most Popular,†“Auctions,†or by release date. They also have access to an insights tab, a tab for Magic Eden games, and a unique launchpad.
When searching for a collection, users can filter stats based on the last 24 hours, week, or 30 days. They can also filter NFTs based on the unique attributes of a collection. These attributes include eyes, mouth, background, and other features. Or, if an investor has a specific budget in mind, they can filter an NFT collection based on its status and price.
Through the insights tab, users can view live auctions and recent market activity for all collections. This is great for collectors who want to stay up to date, with options for everything from recent transactions to top holders.
How Does The Magic Eden Marketplace Work?
To get started with Magic Eden, you need a Solana-compatible wallet such as Exodus, Trezor, or SolFlare. You then need to purchase SOL to cover the price of the NFT plus the Solana blockchain fee.
From here, you can connect your wallet to Magic Eden by clicking the “Connect Wallet†button on the right side of the screen. You don’t need to make an account. Once connected, you can buy any NFT collection on the platform by bidding on it at auction or clicking “Buy now†to make an instant purchase.
In November 2022 the most popular collection on Magic Eden was Claynosaurz, followed by y00ts and DeGods. The most popular collection of all time remains Okay Bears, a profile-picture NFT collection showcasing a range of bears with unique, quirky characteristics.
Alongside a comprehensive website, Magic Eden has its own iOS app. This app lets users browse a range of NFT collections; however, it doesn’t let users buy NFTs. NFT purchases are currently limited to the web browser.
Although mostly focused on Solana collections, Magic Eden also supports Ethereum (ETH) collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Otherdeed For Otherside, and Azuki. These can be found on the “Popular Collections†tab under the “Ethereum†section.
If you want to get involved in the future of Magic Eden, you can also purchase Magic Tickets on the site. Each ticket grants you access to the Magic Eden decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The DAO is currently an exclusive Discord channel where users can vote on future marketplace policies.
Who Founded The Magic Eden Marketplace
Magic Eden was founded in 2021 by four friends: Sidney Zhang, Jack Lu, Zhuoxun Yin, and Zhuojie Zhou. Before founding Magic Eden, each member had previous crypto and development experience.
Sidney Zhang formerly worked as an Uber Eats developer, Jack Lu worked at FTX, Zhuoxun Yin was a product manager at Coinbase, and Zhuojie Zhou worked as a Facebook developer.
Magic Eden Launchpad
To promote the adoption and success of Solana NFTs, Magic Eden created a unique launchpad to kick-start NFT artists’ projects. The launchpad works in a similar way to an art auction house, with all collections accepted by the launchpad being featured on the front page of the site.
As well as promoting NFT collections, the Magic Eden Launchpad helps creators actually mint their NFTs. It uses an innovative automatic distribution system that takes care of the technical side of NFT creation. This lets creators focus on the artwork instead of worrying about complex coding.
To be part of the launchpad, creators are required to go through a vigorous application process, which will look at the project, its utility, and its design. This process is extremely strict, and only 5% of applications are accepted.
Popular launchpad collections include Syberials: Mint Scrolls, Moon Strike NFT, and WADE Collab. HumanX, Plato Eats: Foodies, and Toys R Us are also set to be released at the start of December.
Final Thoughts: Magic Eden Is The Best Marketplace For Solana NFTs
With over 90% of secondary Solana NFT sales, Magic Eden is by far the most preferred NFT marketplace for Solana-based projects. It’s easy to use, with a seamless interface that makes it easy to find top collections, analyze current stats and search for gaming-based NFTs.Â
By combining Solana and Ethereum NFTs, the platform has made itself a one-stop shop for NFTs, where both creators and investors can find and buy the collections they want.
The standout feature of the Magic Eden marketplace is its launchpad. As its launchpad grows in popularity, it will help the platform become the first place new creators look towards when creating their collections. This will only speed up the widespread adoption of Magic Eden, which could one day compete with the likes of OpenSea to become one of the world’s largest NFT marketplaces.
