Magic Eden Commands 64% of Solana NFT Market Share Ahead of $ME Launch

Magic Eden diamonds, a points system used to measure NFT trading activity, are back in hot demand. Expected to play a key role in determining $ME airdrop allocations, NFT traders are desperately digging for the final diamond rewards. 

Following the marketplace’s highly-anticipated announcement of $ME, the platform’s native token, Magic Eden has asserted its commanding position in Solana NFT markets.

Magic Eden Dominates NFT Market Share on Solana

On August 22, Magic Eden finally unveiled $ME, the platform’s governance token. Claimable through the Magic Eden Wallet, the $ME airdrop is one of the year’s most eagerly awaited airdrops, with traders collecting ME diamonds since late 2023.

With a token airdrop finally confirmed, NFT traders across the ecosystem are putting in a last-ditch attempt to accrue as many diamonds as possible. 

The renewed surge of activity has helped Magic Eden achieve 64% of Solana’s NFT market share, according to Step Finance data.

Despite Magic Eden dominating trade volume, rival marketplace Tensor has handled more trades than Magic Eden over the past week. This could suggest that Magic Eden typically processes larger sales than Tensor. 

With 207,073 NFT listings in the last week, Magic Eden boasts 338% more listings than Tensor, which witnessed 47,358 listings over the same time period.

In a bid to further incentivize trading activity, Magic Eden has applied boosted diamond accrual rates to several top collections, including DeGods, Fuzzy DeGods (y00ts), Retardio Cousins, and the recently minted Hermans collection.

The Magic Eden Foundation is yet to confirm $ME tokenomics and distribution rates, but network participants anticipate that diamonds will be the main factor when calculating airdrop allocations.

What’s More Desirable, Diamonds or Points?

While Magic Eden diamonds could be considered the chief cause of Magic Eden’s dominance, it should be noted that Tensor is also in the midst of its own incentivized points system. Running since April 2024, Tensor’s Season 4 rewards campaign is expected to distribute $TNSR tokens to active users.

As is often the case in the crypto industry, speculation on the unknown is typically more appealing. While both NFT marketplaces offer incentivized rewards, traders appear to be more interested in the prospect of a new token, rather than receiving tokens that are already available on the open market.

Given the significant amount of capital invested in Magic Eden, many NFT traders in the Solana ecosystem have high hopes for the $ME airdrop. Magic Eden raised over $159M from investors over the course of four rounds. In stark contrast, Tensor raised $3M, suggesting that the eventual $ME airdrop might result in a larger injection of capital into onchain markets.

Despite disgruntled reactions from the NFT community, the Magic Eden Foundation hasn’t changed its stance on the $ME claiming procedure. When announcing $ME, Magic Eden declared that $ME would only be claimable through the ME Wallet application.

In response to security concerns, Magic Eden confirmed they will introduce a system for linking eligible wallets without requiring users to import a seed phrase.

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