The All-in-One Asset Service Provider of the Solana Ecosystem: In-Depth Analysis of Metaplex

Introduction

In this round of the bull market cycle, Solana is undoubtedly the fastest growing L1 public chain. From the number of active addresses to fee income, Solana's market share in the L1 sector has shown explosive growth.

• The share of active addresses soared from 3.48% to 56.83%, a year-on-year increase of 1533%;
• The share of fee income rose from 0.62% to 28.92%, a year-on-year increase of 4564%.

The meme token craze is the main driving force behind the rapid growth of various core metrics of Solana. In addition to Solana itself, there are also some projects that have benefited greatly from this wave of enthusiasm, such as the DEX platform Raydium.

This article will focus on another project that benefits from the surge in Solana asset issuance: Metaplex.

Business Positioning and Business Model of Metaplex

Metaplex is a digital asset creation, sales, and management system built on the Solana blockchain and supports SVM. It provides developers, creators, and businesses with the tools and standards to build decentralized applications. The types of crypto assets supported by Metaplex include NFTs, FTs, RWAs, gaming assets, DePIN assets, etc.

Recently, Metaplex has also expanded its business into the data indexing and data availability service sector within the Solana ecosystem. In the long run, Metaplex is expected to become one of the most important multi-domain foundational service projects in the Solana ecosystem.

Metaplex product matrix

Metaplex's main products include:

• Core: Next-generation NFT standard, adopting "single account design"
• Bubblegum: A program for creating and managing compressed NFTs ( cNFT ).
• Token Metadata: Attach additional data to fungible and non-fungible assets on Solana.
• Candy Machine: The most commonly used NFT minting and issuing program
• Aura: Decentralized Index and Data Availability Network ( Testnet )

Metaplex's business model

Metaplex's business model is to charge for providing on-chain asset-related services. Although the direct partners are other projects on Solana, most of the revenue comes from small projects or retail users that use these projects, including project parties creating various types of tokens and individual users minting NFTs.

Metaplex's moat

The moat of Metaplex mainly comes from "high switching costs" and "setting standards":.

1. Developers and users are deeply reliant on Metaplex's tools and protocols, switching to other protocols will incur high costs.

2. The asset format of Metaplex has become the standard in the Solana ecosystem, and new projects will prioritize compatibility with the more robust Metaplex.

Metaplex Business Data Analysis

Monthly Active Users

As of November 30, 2024, Metaplex's monthly active user count reached 844,966, setting a new record high, with a year-on-year growth of 253%.

number of assets minted by agreement

In November 2024, the number of monthly asset minting types on Metaplex exceeded 1.44 million, setting a new historical record. Among them, 94% are fungible tokens, and only 6% are NFTs.

Protocol Revenue

In November 2024, Metaplex's monthly protocol revenue reached $3.3 million, also setting a new historical high.

Metaplex Team Background

The founder of Metaplex, Stephen Hess, was an early employee of Solana. The team is streamlined but has strong product delivery capabilities and high work efficiency.

In January 2022, Metaplex secured a strategic investment of $46 million from institutions like Multicoin and Jump, with a valuation of approximately $450 million.

MPLX Token Analysis

Token Basic Information

• Total Supply: 1 Billion
• Circulation Rate: 75.6%

Token Utility

• Governance Voting
• 50% of the protocol revenue is used for buyback
• May become Aura node staking assets in the future

Protocol Valuation

Compared to Raydium, which also benefits from the Meme craze, Metaplex's valuation is slightly higher. However, the business positioning of the two is quite different, and the comparison is for reference only.

Potential Driving Factors and Risks

Driving Factors:

• A new active track has emerged in the Solana ecosystem.
• Launch on larger trading platforms to gain liquidity premiums
• Increase service charges

Risk:

• The Solana Meme craze fades
• Lack of sustainable sources of income

Summary

Metaplex is actually the foundational protocol serving all types of assets within the Solana ecosystem and is a direct beneficiary of the Meme craze. As a project occupying the upstream ecological position of "asset issuance and management", Metaplex deserves long-term attention.