Top 10 Solana NFT projects trending in 2022

Editorial
17 Min Read

Solana (SOL) is one of the leading blockchain networks in the world, second to Ethereum. By providing low fees, high scalability, and secure transactions, NFTs based on this blockchain have climbed up drastically in 2022. Here’s everything your need to know about trending & upcoming Solana NFT projects:

If someone said 2022 is the year of Solana, we wouldn’t disagree with it. Over the past year, SOL has hiked prices as more and more NFT projects realized the potential it brings to creators, users, and developers. 

Despite the bear market, people have been actively investing in Solana NFT projects because A) they are more affordable than Ethereum NFTs B) they tend to rise in value and give good profit, and C) they provide more utility to holders. 

According to various reports, SOL’s NFT market volume has increased when compared to OpenSea or other blockchain-based collectibles. So, knowing about NFT trending on this network is more than important for investors and collectors.

What is the Solana blockchain?

Solana is a network built on smart contract functionality and proof-of-stake with a proof-of-history (POH) model offering users more scalable, environment-friendly, low gas fees, and high-speed transactions. 

founded in 2017 by The Solana Foundation, this platform is the only one that utilizes the concept of POH to improve its performance. In fact, it is considered an “Ethereum killer” because it is the rival blockchain of ETH. 

$SOL is the native cryptocurrency token of this network that is utilized across all of its decentralized applications and NFT platforms. If someone wants to buy, sell, and trade digital assets on Solana, they must first have SOL tokens in their crypto wallet. 

NFT platforms on Solana

Before we jump in to discuss popular NFT projects, you should know where to buy these collectibles from. 

Although many Solana-based NFT platforms exist, the most famous ones are Magic Eden and SolSea. Both of these marketplaces are highly popular in the NFT community as most people buy non-fungible tokens from here. 

Magic Eden

Magic Eden is the second-largest NFT marketplace in the world, rivaling OpenSea in terms of its market volume and demand. It is an ideal platform where people can create, buy, sell, and trade NFTs using SOL tokens. 

With over 8,000 collections and 22M unique monthly visitors, Magic Eden has made history of generating a $1.9B secondary volume trade. For people who do not prefer OpenSea or want more variety, Magic Eden is the best option.

SolSea

SolSea is the second to Magic Eden on the Solana blockchain that provides a variety of digital collectibles. It is the “first NFT platform that embeds licenses and unlockable content when minting.” In other words, the creators can put a copyright license on their creations, giving them full ownership with no third-party involvement. 

SolSea stands out from other NFT platforms because of its low gas fees that range from 2% to 0%, making it an ideal platform to trade NFTs.

No matter what NFT platform you choose, it is essential that you research how it saves money and gives you maximum benefit, or if the platform is worth your money at all. However, this is solely determined by what NFT collection you are buying. 

Top 10 Solana NFT projects

Over the past year, many collections have dropped on the SOL network; some even made headlines and trended on Twitter for a long time because of the hype. Here are the top 10 Solana NFT projects trending in 2022:

10. Oak Paradise

9. KikiVerse

8. Liberty Square: The Sinister Squirrel Syndicate

7. MonkeyLeague

6. Neopets Metaverse

5. STEPN

4. Okay Bears

3. Critters Cult

2. DeGods

1. Y00ts: mint t00bs

Total supply: 10,000

Launch date:  August 22, 2022 

Mint price: 0.66 SOL ($21.96)

Oak Paradise is a collection of 10,000 NFTs minted on Magic Eden that offers holders access to various gaming experiences in Casino, Esports, and Poker to earn rewards in SOL or SPL tokens. 

By making Oak trees the center of its artwork, paired with a unique combination of traits of masks, clothes, backgrounds, eyes, and body for each NFT. These are PFP-style avatars, currently sold out in the marketplace. 

Oak Paradise
Oak Paradise NFTs | Source: magiceden.io

Oak Paradise is one of the best-selling projects that go beyond just an NFT collection. They provide holders the utility to earn cryptocurrency by playing games on Solana. There are Live Casinos, Slots, and other games, giving opportunities for players to pick and choose what suits their preferences. 

9. KikiVerse

Total Supply: 10,000

Launch date: July 21, 2022 

Mint price: 0.5 SOL ($16.64)

KikiVerse features cute avatars with over 1200 unique traits and 100 characters hand-drawn by digital artist FourLeafClover. The NFTs also include music combined with art to showcase a unique concept in Web3.

KikiVerse NFTs
KikiVerse NFTs | Source: magiceden.io

KikiVerse aims to become a Web3 decentralized entertainment brand controlled by its community. Those who buy NFTs from the KikiVerse collection are included in the community and open to making suggestions for the project. 

This project is multi-chain support, meaning it can be minted both on Solana and Ethereum. 

8. Liberty Square: The Sinister Squirrel Syndicate

Total Supply: 10,000

Launch date: July 13, 2022

Mint price: 0.88 SOL ($29.28)

Liberty Square is a Solana-based NFT collection of 10,000 Squirrel avatars that go beyond the PFP art to a proper story, lore, and character development by experimenting with various possibilities within the Web3 space. Founded by Sekrit, Skribble, and Shadow, it is more of a revolutionary NFT project that leads holders into an immersive experience.

Sinister Squirrel NFTs
Sinister Squirrel NFTs | Source: magiceden.io

The Sinister Squirrel Syndicate NFT collection is the Series 1 of Liberty Square that features over 450 traits, 12 base classes, and 10 gangs, each having a unique combination of characteristics that make it unique from others. 

The holders receive the utility to stake $FLTH; the native token, access to free airdrops, and IP Rights of the NFT. 

7. MonkeyLeague

Total Supply: 15,000 (not fixed)

Launch date: January 2022

MonkeyLeague is a strategy-based NFT game on SOL centered on Esports, especially Soccer. This is a multiplayer Play-to-earn game, which means the more you play, the more you will earn rewards. 

Monkey NFTs
Monkey NFTs | Source: magiceden.io

Players build their ideal team via Monkey NFTs and play in tournaments to earn rewards based on skills and performance in the form of MonkeyBucks $MBS, the native token of MonkeyLeague. These NFTs hold a lot of value because the rarest ones have better skills to win than less rare ones, which can be bought using $MBS from the marketplace. 

MonkeyLeague is a successful esports NFT project that recently announced a partnership with AC Milan Italy, the famous football club, to roll out new NFT characters on Magic Eden. All in all, it is an ideal project for football fans and esports gamers.

6.  Neopets Metaverse

Launch date: August 26, 2022

Neopets Metaverse is a top-ranked Solana-based NFT play-to-earn virtual pet NFT game where users can raise, care for, customize, and battle pet avatars in different  PvE and PvP mini-games available on the platform to earn rewards.

Neopets Metaverse NFTs
Neopets Metaverse NFTs | Source: neopetsmeta.io

Inspired by the original Neopets pet virtual community, Neopets Meta is an expansion into the metaverse by utilizing blockchain and NFTs technology. Users can own pets, and lands, and monetize them according to their preference to earn a passive income through its tokenomics. 

All in all, it is free to play with a wide range of economic opportunities in the metaverse. 

5. STEPN

Total Supply: 99,999

Launch date: December 1, 2021

Mint price: 1.3 SOL ($43.26)

STEPN is an NFT fitness and social app built on the Solana network that focuses on the Move-to-earn model. In other words, users can earn native crypto tokens, GST, and NFT rewards by walking, running and jogging for a set time limit. It is a healthy lifestyle app that utilizes GameFi and Social-Fi mechanisms. 

STEPN sneakers
STEPN sneakers | Source: magiceden.io

Users are first required to mint NFT shoes from the marketplace and then download the STEPN app to start earning. The NFT shoes contain smart contract technology that gives full ownership to the holder. By walking or jogging, they can increase the stats of the sneakers.

This is a unique NFT project that motivates users to go outdoors and make an effort to exercise in return for rewards. 

4. Okay Bears

Total Supply: 10,000

Launch date:  April 26, 2022

Mint price: 1.5 SOL ($49.91)

Okay Bears is the best-selling and one of the oldest NFT collections on the Solana network that has generated a 2.1M SOL ($71M) market volume ever since its launch. It features 10,000 bears with a unique combination of traits that have gathered to build an internet community that will soon become a real-world brand.

Okay Bears NFTs
Okay Bears NFTs | Source: magiceden.io

Like other projects, Okay Bears aims to become a global WEB3 brand featuring NFTs, a marketplace, coins, and a community. The collection mostly caught attention during the literal bear market and many investors bought these NFTs solely because of hype and the utility it gave to holders. 

Now, it has risen to be included among blue-chip NFT collections. 

3. Critters Cult

Total Supply: 5,000

Launch date: September 25, 2022

Mint price: 3 SOL ($99.82)

Critters Cult is a newly emerging NFT project that has taken over the Solana network by storm. Deeply inspired by 80-90s sci-fi aesthetics, this collection features randomly generated 8-bit pixel art-style NFTs built in a universe with its own laws and logic developed by Sun Studios, designed by @rgb0x00.

The mysterious storyline, mystical realism, and the animal characters, everything is highly influenced by conspiracy theories, horror games, Stephen King novels, and other authors’ works to create one comprehensive project. 

Critters Cult NFT
Critters Cult NFT | Source: magiceden.io

Critters Cult is a long-term NFT project that has already rolled out its first stage of the PFP collection. Next, it will drop a web app, and then finally another collection will be created called The Sunsets: Saga that will further the concept storyline of the cult. 

2. DeGods

Total Supply: 10,000

Launch date: October 8, 2021

Mint price: 3 SOL ($99.82)

DeGods is yet another hyped-up project in the NFT space. With a distinct artistic PFP style and a wide range of traits from Common to Mythic, this SOL-based collection features gods NFTs in very modernistic streetwear vibes founded by Dust Labs who are part of the Solana community. 

DeGods NFTs
DeGods NFTs | Source: magiceden.io

DeGods showcase a unique series of gods that leads to a whole ecosystem with its own tokenomics. The project has its own native token $DUST, that is used for staking. Holders with the most staked $DUST tokens become members of DeDAO, an organization that controls the project and ecosystem. 

All in all, DeGods ranks no.1 Solana community on the Magic Eden marketplace.

1. Y00ts: mint t00bs

Total Supply: 15,000

Launch date: September 5, 2022

Mint price: 149.75 SOL ($4,683)

Y00ts is a project by Frank, a DeGods creator, and Dust Labs that received much internet hype for the whole of September. The NFT project outranked DeGods in terms of its volume trade in 30 days. 

mint t00bs
mint t00bs

The y00ts mint t00bs collection is a unique set of avatar digital collectibles in which the users should first mint t00bs NFT to get y00ts. Although minting t00bs is the choice of the holder, those who don’t mint t00bs won’t be able to get the y00ts NFT. 

The NFT collection was sold via ay00tlist so not everyone could mint these NFTs on the launch. Currently, the t00bs are available on the Magic Eden secondary marketplace. 

Although it’s a highly popular project, it is relatively new; launched just last month, so no further details have been shared except that the y00ts NFTs will lead holders to y00topia. 

Upcoming NFT projects on Solana

Solana NFTs are worth investment because they are the second most expensive digital assets to own in today’s market. The industry in this blockchain is actively creating and producing new projects that are rich with utility and benefits. 

The upcoming SOL NFT projects you should keep an eye on are:

  1. Nyan Heroes Genesis Guardian: A collection of futuristic cats on robot mechs part of the Nyan Heroes universe soon to be launched on Oct 7
  2. Diversity Club NFT: A NFT community dedicated to promoting decentralized charity in Web3 whose royalties and earnings will be donated to the Foundation Wallet by GetChange, controlled by various DAOs that vote on the distribution of charities. 
  3. Saki: Saki is a collection of 5,000 NFT female warriors designed by local artists offering holders the utility of staking rewards, free airdrops, official merchandise, full-time labs, and access to the community.
  4. Ubears: Ubears is a classic pixel art generated 7,777 cute-looking bears NFT collection with a wide range of rarity traits and benefits to holders including earning a portion of the secondary market fee.
  5. P-GANG: A collection of 3,333 NFTs featuring unique creatures that have crash-landed into the Solana blockchain. They will soon be launching SOL GANG DAO, airdrops, collaborations, staking rewards, $GANG tokens, and more.  

Don’t miss out on this year’s most trending NFT projects on Solana!

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