What is Magic Eden: exploring Solana's multichain NFT marketplace

Magic Eden is an NFT marketplace that offers a platform to buy, sell, and mint digital assets across multiple blockchains. Here, you can explore Ethereum, Polygon, or Solana NFTs, and trade assets through a simple platform suitable for both beginners and experienced traders. But what makes Magic Eden stand out from other NFT marketplaces, and where could it be heading next?

Read on as we walk you through the Magic Eden platform.

TL;DR

• Magic Eden is a multi-chain NFT marketplace supporting Solana, Ethereum, Polygon, and Base.

• It offers tools like the NFT aggregator for seamless cross-chain trading and management.

• The Launchpad provides creators with support and visibility for NFT projects.

• Magic Eden also supports Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes, expanding into the Bitcoin digital collectible space.

• Known for its simplicity and liquidity, Magic Eden provides an easy-to-use platform for traders and NFT collectors.

What is Magic Eden?

Magic Eden initially launched on the Solana blockchain, but it’s expanding to other chains like Ethereum, Polygon, and Base. On Magic Eden, you can easily buy, sell, and mint NFTs. Whether you’re an artist looking to sell your art, or an NFT collector looking to hop on the next project, the Magic Eden marketplace gives you the tools and platform to explore different digital assets.

The name “Magic Eden” itself is telling. The CEO, Jack Lu, created it as a place for collectors and creators to explore limitless possibilities. It's an online space for digital art, culture, communities, and those who believe that NFTs open more doors to blockchain technology. One of Magic Eden’s key features is its multi-chain capabilities.

This cross-chain feature benefits traders and creators by boosting the marketplace’s liquidity and reaching a wider audience. Whether you prefer Solana’s fast, low-cost transactions or Ethereum’s larger market presence, Magic Eden can provide it. Meanwhile, Magic Eden's aggregator feature lets you manage listings from multiple marketplaces. This makes it easier to view NFT floor prices, track holder stats, and make informed trading decisions.

Can you mint Ordinals and Runes on Magic Eden?

Magic Eden supports Bitcoin Ordinals, which allow you to inscribe data directly onto a Satoshi — the smallest unit of Bitcoin. This process creates a Bitcoin-native NFT, known as an inscription. Ordinals let you create and trade digital assets on Bitcoin, but ordinals differ from other NFTs on chains like Ethereum or Solana.Magic Eden supports Runes too. Runes are a fungible token built on the Bitcoin blockchain, offering an alternative to the existing BRC-20 token standard.

How does Magic Eden's NFT aggregator work?

Magic Eden’s NFT aggregator brings all your NFT activities into one place, removing the need to switch between marketplaces. With this tool, you can view and manage NFTs from different blockchains like Polygon, Ethereum, and Base, all within a single interface.

This means you can review the floor prices (the lowest price an NFT from a collection is selling for) across different platforms without having to switch tabs. Whether you’re shopping for a new NFT or managing a collection, having all the information in front of you can be a big time-saver.

Sellers can also use Magic Eden’s NFT management tool to adjust prices, relist items, or cancel listings on other platforms. This centralized control saves time and reduces friction in cross-chain trading.

The Magic Eden aggregator is particularly appealing because it provides real-time statistics. You can monitor holder statistics and always have the most accurate information available. This is crucial for traders who depend on current data to make informed decisions.

What is the Magic Eden Launchpad?

If you’re a creator looking to bring your NFT project to life, the Magic Eden Launchpad might be exactly what you need. It’s a selective Launchpad, with a 3% application success rate — you have to give it your all to compete with the top tier creators, and to get Magic Eden’s backing.

While it might initially seem overwhelming, the rigorous selection process benefits both creators and collectors. Making sure that only high-quality projects make it to the Launchpad fosters a sense of trust and excitement among the community. When a project is accepted, it signifies the support and approval of one of the leading marketplaces in the NFT space. Here are some of the benefits of the Magic Eden Launchpad.

Exposure

Your project will gain immediate visibility within the Magic Eden marketplace, which is known for having an active NFT community.

High liquidity

The Launchpad’s secondary market supports projects by making it easier for creators to attract buyers and collectors to trade.

Dedicated support

The Magic Eden team offers technical and marketing support throughout the minting process, allowing creators to focus on their specialty — creating. Whether it’s managing the technical aspects or providing guidance on how to position a project, the team is dedicated to supporting creators.

How it works

Once your application is accepted, Magic Eden will help you through the entire NFT minting process. From launching your collection to making sure it has a strong presence in the NFT secondary market, the Launchpad helps your project gain attention.

Building long-term success for your NFT project goes beyond minting. The Launchpad helps to showcase your work to a community of collectors and traders, and provides tools to sustain momentum, and connects creators to liquidity.

How does Magic Eden handle liquidity and trading volume?

For NFT marketplaces, liquidity and trading volume are key factors that determine how well they serve their community. Magic Eden offers advantages in both areas, particularly within the Solana ecosystem, where it dominates over 90% of the NFT secondary market. How does Magic Eden keep up with high liquidity and trading volume across multiple blockchains?

A stronghold on Solana

Magic Eden’s initial success can be traced to its foundation on Solana, known for its fast transactions and low fees. This combination makes it ideal for NFT traders who want to buy and sell assets quickly without paying astronomical gas fees.

With over 90% of Solana’s secondary NFT trading volume, Magic Eden is the go-to marketplace for buyers and sellers. This high percentage of market share guarantees liquidity, meaning there are always enough buyers and sellers for digital assets to move smoothly.

Expanding to Ethereum and Polygon

While Solana NFTs form the backbone of Magic Eden’s dominance, the marketplace has expanded to other chains. By merging with Ethereum and Polygon, Magic Eden has become a multi-chain marketplace, tapping into even larger audiences and offering more cross-chain NFT trading opportunities.

This expansion gives users access to higher liquidity, because it lets you trade on different blockchains while still having the same seamless experience Magic Eden is known for.

Fast transactions

High NFT liquidity helps to make sure trades are processed quickly, with enough buyers or sellers available to complete the other side of a transaction.

Competitive pricing

With so much activity, the market can theoretically remain competitive, keeping prices fair and ensuring you can buy or sell your NFTs at a reasonable rate.

Cross-chain Trading

By supporting cross-chain NFT trading, Magic Eden doesn’t limit the community to a single blockchain. This flexibility attracts more creators and traders, and can lead to higher NFT sales across the board. More options mean more trades, which, in turn, boosts liquidity.

How does Magic Eden’s Mint Terminal work?

It can be daunting if you’ve tried to keep up with NFT mints across multiple platforms, especially when juggling different tabs on your browser. Magic Eden’s Mint Terminal makes it easier for collectors to stay on top of the latest mints across different blockchains, offering a simple, centralized way to discover and participate in real-time NFT launches.

What is the Mint Terminal?

The Magic Eden Mint Terminal is an NFT mint aggregator that tracks live mints from popular blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, and Base. Rather than hopping between different platforms to find out what’s minting, you can view everything in one place, filter by your preferences, and mint directly from the terminal.

Real-time NFT minting

The Mint Terminal provides a live feed of active and upcoming mints, so you’re always up-to-date.

Filtering options

You can filter mints by price, status, or platform to find exactly what interests you. Whether you’re looking for a free mint or one at a higher price point, the Mint Terminal can help you find it quickly.

One-click minting

Once you’ve found a project you’re excited about, you can mint it directly from the terminal in a single click. This streamlined process saves time and makes acting quickly on high-demand drops easy.

What is ME? Magic Eden Rewards programme and the ME airdrop

While earlier in 2024 there weren't yet any confirmed details of a native token airdrop for Magic Eden, rumors began to build in light of the recently launched Magic Eden Rewards programme. In essence, it's a cross chain rewards program that incentivizes interactions by giving users Diamonds when they interact with the Magic Eden ecosystem. This includes buying native listings on Magic Eden, listing NFTs, making collection offers, and buying Ordinals or NFTs through the ME wallet. To reward early pioneers, Diamonds are retroactively given to users who have interacted with the Magic Eden platform since its launch in September 2021. If you have 100% loyalty, you'll get double the number of diamonds.

Although naysayers may claim that this may simply be a way to retain user growth and activity for Magic Eden, the rewards manifesto goes on to mention and confirm that the ME token is in the works and will be used to govern the platform. From this, early Magic Eden users could've speculated that the ME token airdrop will likely coincide with the total number of Diamonds being held.

ME airdrop details

Source: ME Foundation

Fortunately for these users, they weren't wrong. On November 18, 2024, Magic Eden published a blog post on ME tokenomics that confirms Magic Eden's intentions of an airdrop to reward active users. From ME having a total supply of one billion tokens to the initial ME claim at TGE being 12.5% of this total supply, the post essentially details everything you'll need to know about the ME token. Interestingly, whatever that's claimed at TGE will be fully unlocked and distributed via Magic Eden's mobile DApp. This decision is unlike other recently conducted airdrops as they involved vesting or locking tokens away in a bid to prevent airdrop users from immediately selling their tokens. Ultimately, only time will tell if Magic Eden's approach to this ME airdrop will yield rewards for long-term supporters and users.

ME tokenomics and emissions schedule

Source: ME Foundation

Total supply and initial TGE claims aside, here's a breakdown of the overall ME token allocations.

• 26.2% contributors

• 23.6% strategic participants

• 37.7% community and ecosystem

• 12.5% initial TGE claims

As seen from the allocation, the Magic Eden team has made the conscious decision to devote more than half of ME tokens to the community. This amount will be periodically distributed over the next four years.

The final word

Magic Eden is an NFT marketplace that started on Solana but has since expanded to Ethereum, Polygon, and Base, making it easier for creators and collectors to find and trade digital collectibles. Known for its easy-to-use features, Magic Eden has evolved by adding new features such as the NFT aggregator and Mint Terminal, further simplifying the trading and minting of NFTs across different blockchains.

Curious to learn more about NFT minting and trading? Check out our article on minting NFTs with Stable Diffusion, and explore our step-by-step guide to creating NFTs with Midjourney's AI tool.

Interested in getting involved in the hotly anticipated ME TGE? Instead of waiting for the ME airdrop to happen, you can take the first step and begin trading ME in the form of ME pre-market futures.