The enthusiasm for NFTs has waned since reaching its peak in 2021 and 2022, marked by a decrease in volume and fewer projects making waves in the market. Despite this, Bitcoin ($BTC) and Solana ($SOL) have emerged as the preferred platforms for new NFT deployments.
Surprisingly, three-quarters of all NFT launches in 2023 took place on either Bitcoin or Solana. Bitcoin, in particular, intrigued enthusiasts with its Ordinals Inscriptions, although this move sparked controversy within the Bitcoin community. Notably, Bitcoin’s NFTs stand out because the media is stored directly in the blockchain instead of centralized databases. In contrast to most NFT blockchains, where a hash ID is linked to the media (usually an image) hosted by centralized services. Elon Musk recently shared his views on these mechanics on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, Solana gained prominence due to lower fees and superior network performance compared to its competitors. The growth of Solana’s ecosystem in 2023 contributed to its dominance in the NFT segment, accounting for 75% of all NFT deployments last year, according to Electric Capital’s Developer Report 2023.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) saw a significant decline in its previous dominance, with NFT deployments hitting historical lows in the same year that Bitcoin and Solana flourished.
In summary, Electric Capital reported a total of 14,560 NFT deployments across the three blockchains by the end of 2023. This shift indicates a changing trend and the potential for renewed interest in this technology.
The move to improved infrastructures offering native decentralized media hosting or more efficient transactions could be the catalyst behind this resurgence. Investors are now eagerly awaiting further developments and insights into NFT trading and use cases that could drive demand and value in the market.
