OpenSea begins activating support for Solana-based NFTs

OpenSea, the venture-backed marketplace for non-fungible tokens, has begun going live with its long-anticipated integration of Solana. 

Data from the marketplace indicates Solana-centric collections are being listed and denominated in SOL, such as Solana Monkey Business. Following the publication of this report, those functionalities became unavailable -- a reflection of a launch characterized as a beta process, The Block has learned. 

The move enables a wide crop of NFTs on the platform, which prior to today catered largely to Ethereum-based NFTs along with integrations with the Polygon and Klatyn blockchains. Still, the Solana news represents a significant expansion for OpenSea. The firm raised $300 million at a $13 billion valuation in January. 

The Solana integration was expected, with OpenSea teasing the move in a tweet last week.  

What remains to be seen is what impact the development will have on the existing ecosystem for Solana NFT marketplaces, including Magic Eden, which recently raised $27 million and has emerged as the dominant market on that network. 

Solana saw $173 million in NFT trade volume during March, according to data tracker CryptoSlam. 

Last month, OpenSea posted roughly $3.4 billion worth of trade volumes, according to The Block's Data Dashboard.

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A recent first-quarter report from the Metaplex Foundation, which is tied to the popular protocol for minting Solana-based NFTs, found that a total of 9.7 million NFTs have been minted via the protocol. 

This post has been updated with additional information.