Solana opening physical NYC store while emerging as a competitor to Ethereum’s NFT dominance

A new report from crypto insights firm Messari shows Solana (SOL) is creeping up as a competitor to Etheruem’s (ETH) NFT market dominance.

The report shows that Solana’s overall usage was down as of Q2 of this year, however NFT activity on the Solana blockchain is up and seems to be accelerating. The report stated “Following a breakout end to 2021 and beginning of 2022, Solana NFT activity accelerated amidst the network’s decline in usage and DeFi activity during Q2. Daily new NFTs dramatically increased to over 7 million newly minted NFTs, representing 46.4% growth. For perspective, newly minted NFTs over the first six months of 2022 are twice the amount minted during all of 2021.”

The report details the NFT activity and growth and shows major spikes in May and June of this year.

According to Messari’s report, the growing NFT activity on the Ethereum challenger is occurring due to the success of Metaplex, an open-source tool that lets users create Solana-based NFT marketplaces, the launch of the Serum NFT collection, and lastly fundraising by Solana’s NFT marketplace named Magic Eden.

Messari says that while Ethereum continues to maintain the overwhelming majority of NFT activity, Solana is doing very well compared to other competing layer-1 protocols.

“Although Ethereum maintained 85% dominance and controlled the number one position of NFT secondary sales volume, Solana continued to capture market share compared to the alternative L1s in the peer group.”

Solana (SOL) opening up a physical store in New York City (NYC)

Solana, will be opening a permanent physical retail space or store dedicated to all things tied to its cryptocurrency in New York City. The store will be located at Hudson Yards The Shops, a new and upscale mall in Manhattan.

It feels like any other upscale retail store, but it accepts cryptocurrency—with “Solana Pay Accepted Here” casually posted on the storefront glass—and has an NFT gallery highlighting the Degenerate Ape Academy collection across its walls.  Included in the store are stations dedicated to onboarding new users to Solana and the phantom Solana crypto wallets.

They also have visual representations of live Solana blockchain activity as well as tutorials on platforms like STEPN, a play to earn fitness application and of course Magic Eden, its resident NFT marketplace.