Sayonara, Solana? Magic Eden announces polygon integration

Is Magic Eden shifting away from Solana or just securing their chains? Regardless of motive, the NFT marketplace that has served as the top dog in Solana’s NFT ecosystem adds Polygon to the mix.

Previously, Magic Eden has only supported the aforementioned Solana, and NFT leader Ethereum. Now it adds another growing NFT chain to the mix.

Let’s take a look at the marketplace’s announcement and what it means for the NFT space at large.

Magic Eden’s Cross-Chain Move

Bitcoin maxi may protest, but one of the few old sayings in crypto is that “the future is cross-chain.” Magic Eden’s biggest impact has easily been within Solana’s scope. Despite doing about a third of OpenSea’s monthly USD trading volume, the exchange’s dominant position in Solana has allowed it to actually surpass OpenSea’s unique active wallet count (according to DappRadar data).

While OpenSea now supports Solana, Magic Eden’s initial positioning, while Solana’s NFT growth was in prime time, served the marketplace well. While other Solana-based NFT marketplaces exist, none come close to the growth and respect that Magic Eden has earned.

Polygon, meanwhile, has seen significant growth in the NFT space – but generally among white-labeled work, with less traction in the ‘D2C NFT’ aspect that can be addressed now that Solana’s sentiment has cooled.

While Solana may well serve as a continued staple in the NFT community, the momentum that sparked projects like Okay Bears, DeGods, and even the late 2000s doesn’t feel as present as it did just a few months ago.

🪄 Do you believe in magic? Well, we do 💜#Polygon welcome ✨ @MagicEden ✨ for the family!

The leading cross-chain NFT marketplace integrates with the Polygon network to accelerate the development of exciting blockchain-based games and global brands entering #Web3. pic.twitter.com/6pe5qYqTNv

— Polygon – MATIC 💜 (@0xPolygon) 22 November 2022

Polygon (MATIC) is seeing major NFT support following this week's news announcing the chain's support on NFT marketplace Magic Eden. | Source: MATIC:USD on TradingView.com

“Making Magic”

The recent headline-grabbing news surrounding FTX and corresponding speculation surrounding FTX and Alameda’s exposure to Solana is likely not the driving factor here for Magic Eden; The marketplace has long said that they wanted to have support for more chains after all.

In addition to Polygon backing, which will look to bolster Magic Eden’s broad NFT and GameFi market share, the NFT marketplace launched a venture arm, Magic Ventures, and continued expansion of its gaming division Eden Games in recent months as part of the platform’s efforts to stimulate continued GameFi growth.

Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com

The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.

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