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The 10 Best Solana NFT Projects (2022)
The Solana blockchain is now supported by OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace out there for NFT collections and projects. It’s essential to keep an eye on this already pretty popular blockchain due to its lower cost to mint. If you’re just getting into the ecosystem or already have a few under your belt, the below projects are the ten best Solana NFT projects.
#1: Solana Monkey Business
We start off with Solana Monkey Business NFTs (SMB), which is a collection of 5000 randomly-generated monkeys. These pixelated monkeys are on the Solana blockchain. Each Solana Monkey has its own unique features from accessories to even various complexions. Monkeys seem to be a popular animal in blockchains as we immediately think about the popular (and very expensive) Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) on the Ethereum blockchain.
If you own these NFTs, or even just one Solana Monkey, it’s the equivalent of owning a BAYC – but on Solana. What do you get if you own Solana Monkeys? The NFT holders get access to the Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or DAO, called MonkeDAO. It also happens to be the first NFT DAO on Solana. The DAO controls the future of the collection and its advancement through elections.
The Solana Monkey Business NFT DAO gives its members a lot of value such as invitations to exclusive meetups and events and participation in the future on-chain voting system. The website has its very own Solana Monkey Business marketplace, where interested parties can get their very own Solana Monkey.
#2: Degenerate Ape Academy
Next up is the Degenerate Ape Academy (Degen Ape) NFT. Like Solana Monkey Business, the Degen Ape Academy also uses primates, but the larger and more powerful apes. Degenerate Ape Academy is even more similar to BAYC, and the artwork is much smoother than the pixelated monkeys.
The collection was minted in the summer of 2021 and has a total of 10,000 apes with different features. There are 137 total traits that your ape can feature to make it unique. It is one of the best Solana NFT projects not because it is the first one to cross over the million-dollar threshold.
The concept behind this Solana NFT project is to make the apes seem degenerate, and they come in various rarity levels, from common to mythic level, which will affect the price of the NFT. If you’re not too sure about which NFT is considered rare in the collection, you can use resources such as helpful stats to help you determine the best buys.
#3. Aurory
Aurory is a very interesting Solana NFT project because it’s a play-to-earn (P2E) game that has its own NFTs. The NFT collection consists of gaming tokens and avatars. Players can, of course, use the avatars in-game, but the characters are more than just a digital representation of the gamers, they also offer exclusive benefits.
The magical creatures that you acquire can also become NFTs that you capture and evolve in order to use them in battle.
The players can choose to play the game one of two ways – PvE or P2P. The native in-game token is $AURY, which players can earn and use in-game to purchase better equipment, etc.
Aurory is backed by Alameda Research, and the play-to-earn mechanism is similar to Axie Infinity.
#4: Lotus Gang
The Lotus Gang NFT is another pixelated NFT project and one that focuses on culture, art, and education. The NFT project got its name because of what the lotus flower symbolizes in India – purity and wisdom. The Solana NFT project website does not have its own marketplace, so holders will have to pick up these NFTs on either OpenSea or Magic Eden.
The Gen 0 Lotus Gang collection has 4,000 NFTs in total, 2,000 males and 2,000 females. By owning one of them, it gives you access to all the upcoming news, projects and drops Lotus Gang has on its roadmap, The collection has pledged to donate 10% of its proceeds to charity, it has done it and lived up to its promise.
There are more milestones in the works that Lotus Gang plans to address soon including introducing its own merchandise!
#5: SolPunks
You will begin to notice that a lot of the NFTs have very similar art – pixelation. Solana has a lot of projects that look like this. The next one is SolPunks, another well-known project on the Solana blockchain. In fact, it is one of the very first Solana NFT projects. There are 10,000 unique punks with unique features. They are split into 8 different categories with five different types – male, female, zombie, alien and ape.
You need to navigate to Solanart.io to get your hands on this Solana NFT project artwork. There are currently none left, but more may be minted in the future. The SolPunks also have rarity levels with the zombies, aliens and apes being the more valuable ones.
In an effort to make purchasing fair, creators behind the NFT project randomizes your purchase and your SolPunk’s ID is not revealed until the transaction is complete. Now because all initial SolPunks have been purchased, you can only get your hands on them via secondary sales, which can see a very high floor price of anywhere between 5 to 70 SOL or higher.
#6: Thug Birdz
The next NFT project on the Solana blockchain is Thug Birdz, which consists of 3,333 unique NFTs. There are also rarity tiers for these collectible NFTs defined by attributes such as types color, and what the birds are doing.
This is a collection with a low supply compared to others such as the Lotus Gang NFTs with Thai crowns, which have 4,000 and the monkeys and apes that have 10,000. These cool birds are backed by prominent rappers such as Wacka Flocka and even Wiz Khalifa. Thug Birdz has a lot planned in the future such as a game and even its very own rap song.
#7: Meerkat Millionaire Country Club
The Meerkat Millionaire Country Club is a very large project with 20,000 NFTS and is one of Solana’s biggest collections. Like SMB, the project is governed by a DAO and it is dedicated to bringing value to its holders. For example, initial holders can get royalties, which is different from many other projects in the NFT ecosystem which only awards royalties to the creators.
A lot of NFT investors love this and the handdrawn meerkat characters with various attributes. What does the DAO do? NFT enthusiasts within the DAO can participate in on-chain voting, engage in the social platforms, and staking. There are things that have been completed, are ongoing and are coming in the future on the roadmap and the Meerkat Millionaire Country Club is even looking to create its own launchpad!
#8: Frakt
Frakt is a DeFi ecosystem in the form of NFTs on Solana. What’s different about this project is the artwork. Instead of having a signature character, Frakt uses shapes, patters and colors that also have their own rarities.
There are only 10,000 out there and the DeFi approach will allow the holders to stake, and the roadmap also consists of a sandbox, DAO and the Frakionalizer. In order to purchase Frakt NFTs, collectors need to have a Solana wallet to fund with cryptocurrency.
#9: Pesky Penguins
Now we get to one of our favorite collectins, the Pesky Penguins, which are made up of pixel art penguin NFTs. Again, every penguin is unique but the numbers are always changing. This is because of the snowball effect. What is the snowball? It is essentially an NFT burning mechanism and NFT buyback method. NFT burning is the act of removing certain non-fungible tokens from the collection.
It happens when too many in rotation. Pesky Penguins then releases a snowball that rolls through Solana marketplaces that remove the cheapest ones and keeps other NFTs of higher value. The fact that the supply is controlled helps to raise the floor price.
The Pesky Penguin world is Nootopia, which the team behind the NFT is working very hard to build and perfect. It’s a metaverse (virtual world) where the Pesky Penguin community can stake, and earn the native token $PESKY in order to build, upgrade and customize land parcels, which is virtual land.
#10: Solsteads
Following on the whole virtual world metaverse element, Solsteads is a whole virtual world dedicated solely on building your digital homestead. It’s one of the best Solana projects, in our opinion, and it is a lot cheaper compared to Ethereum NFTs on Decentraland, the blockchain’s main virtual world.
A Solstead NFT comes with a unique street address, much like homes do in reality, and a gorgeous abode. It’s a pretty small collection with only 2472 homes. Solsteads has its own marketplace, but you can also find their NFTs on other platforms such as FTX, Magic Eden, and DigitalEyes.
Where to Purchase Solana NFTs: Best Marketplaces
There are large and small marketplaces to purchase old and new NFT projects. Some NFT websites even have their own dedicated platforms for NFT purchases. OpenSea is the largest and with their recent integration of the Solana blockchain, it’s one of the top choices. Other trustworthy marketplaces in the community include Solanart, Solsea, DigitalEyes and Metaplex.
Which is the Best Solana NFT Wallet?
In order to use a Solana marketplace and to purchase non-fungilble tokens on the chain, you need a compatible wallet to fund cryptocurrency. The best and most popular ones used in the community are the Phantom wallet, Solflare wallet, Sollet, Ledger, and Coinbase.
FAQ
• Where can I find rare Solana NFTs?
You can find rare Solana NFTs on marketplaces that support the blockchain or on the project’s dedicated platform. If you’re not sure about the rarity of an NFT, we would suggest using resources such as NFT stats to determine a token’s value. You can also visit NFT Drops to have the latest updates of upcoming NFTs on the Solana Blockchain.
Read more: How to Check NFT Rarity
Conclusion
Solana is one of the major blockchains for NFTs, and the new integration on OpenSea will only boost the blockchain’s exposure and popularity. There are constantly new projects being added into the mix, so aside from knowing the OG popular ones, keep an eye out for what is coming in the future so you can participate in the drops.
