September NFT data wrap: Minting on Solana hits new high

Solana's NFT space saw a surge in minting this month despite NFT market volumes  showing little improvement following the crash earlier this year. SudoAMM has conducted $50 million in trading since its launch, proving there's a market for royalty-free NFT trading despite the controversy they generate. The most popular web3 game of September saw almost 2 million users this month, but its smart contracts have registered less than $20 in incoming value to the dapp's smart contracts.

Find out about this and more in this month's data wrap.

NFT mints on Solana reach an all-time high

The number of NFTs minted on Solana hit a high of 312,000 on Sept. 7, up from 39,000 just three days earlier. On Sept. 6, Solana-based NFT market volume his $11.5 million, the highest level since May.

Top collections on Solana, Sept. 2022. Source: Hello Moon

The surge was likely influenced by the excitement surrounding the y00ts mint. The 15,000-strong NFT collection is a new release from Dust Labs, the team behind the DeGods NFT collection.

In terms of trading volume, Solana also saw some increase this month, but numbers still remain much lower than earlier this year.

The Solana NFT community is hoping the surge of interest earlier this month represents the market beginning to mature. They have long lamented the challenge of getting NFTs on the chain taken seriously. Chase Barker, head of developer ecosystem at the Solana Foundation said he remembers people laughing at Solana NFTs last year, while Metaplex co-founder Stephen Hess said, "It felt like cold calling."

StepN logs 67 million miles as of its first anniversary

Move-to-earn app StepN revealed it has logged 67 million miles of walking and physical activity since its launch a year ago, with over 4.7 million users registered on the app.

The company earned more than $26.8 million and $122 million in the first and second quarters of 2022, respectively, despite challenges in finding the right balance for its tokenomics.

It also announced this month that it would be moving its headquarters from Australia to Hong Kong.

SudoAMM reaches over $50 million in trading since its launch

Two months after its launch, royalty-free NFT trading platform SudoAMM has taken more than $50 million in total trading volume.

As of Sept. 23, the automated market maker (AMM) has processed more than 90,000 transactions, attracted 29,000 users and amassed $251,000 in total platform fees.

Sudoswap volume. Source: Dune Analytics via user 0xRob

Launched in July by the same team as Sudoswap, SudoAMM removed royalties last month as part on an attempt to keep fees as low as possible.

Gameta September's most popular web3 game

Casual mobile game collection Gameta attracted a stunning 1.92 million users — calculated by number of unique wallet interactions with a dapp's smart contract — in September following its switch from Solana to BNB Chain. It beat out Alien Worlds, which saw 713,000 users in the same 30-day period. 

Source: DappRadar

Still, transaction volumes tell a slightly different story, with Gameta registering volumes of just $17.50. The Sandbox is the top game by volume, followed by Axie Infinity, Crazy Defense Heroes and Gods Unchained. 

Source: DappRadar

Metaverse trademark applications have already eclipsed 2021

Companies and individuals filed 4,200 U.S. trademark applications and 5,800 NFT-related patents from January to August this year, according to data shared by trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis in early September.

Numbers average at 523 a month, peaking in March with a record 759 filings. This compares with last year, which saw a total of 1,866 metaverse and 2,087 NFT applications overall.