How to build an NFT marketplace on Solana?

Over the last few years, NFTs have grown from a trendy buzzword into a vital component of Web 3.0 and the decentralized financial system. In 2022, the global market for non-fungible tokens reached $22B, with the collective value of the top 100 NFTs ever issued estimated at $16.7B, according to The Guardian. NFTs authenticate the ownership of a unique digital or physical object, whether it be a piece of virtual art by Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) or a digital hat worn in a metaverse. The ownership of the asset is recorded on a digital, decentralized ledger known as a blockchain. 

Mainstream businesses entering the arena play a key role in the surge of NFT trading. Coca-Cola raised over $575,000 for selling customized jackets and other elements to be worn in the metaverse world of Decentraland. Gucci, Nike, and Adidas have also made their way into the digital space by providing a new level of exclusivity. 

Corporations and individual creators are looking for ways to capitalize on the rising market of NFTs, and building an NFT marketplace is one of them. However, before we start talking about the development process of the Solana NFT marketplace, here are some NFT fundamentals to aid in understanding the market. 

An NFT marketplace and its top features 

An NFT marketplace is an e-commerce platform that was designed to enable the trading of virtual assets like NFTs. Unlike traditional e-commerce platforms, NFTs serve a specific purpose – selling, buying, and trading digital collectibles. 

Though an NFT marketplace has lots in common with conventional e-commerce platforms, it should be loaded with different features to support the trading of non-fungible tokens. Here are the top features every NFT marketplace needs:

• Crypto wallet

Users cannot run any NFT transaction without a crypto wallet. It’s a key element of an NFT marketplace. You need to ensure that users can sync their crypto wallets with the NFT marketplace and run seamless transactions. You can start with supporting the most popular crypto wallets like Metamask or Coinbase and then add more if needed. 

• Shop window 

A shop window with all relevant information like the price, owner, and the preferred payment method is likely to boost your NFT sales. 

• Registration 

Either by a buyer or a seller, users should register with the NFT marketplace and provide the required information. With a personal profile, users can manage their NFTs, track their buying and bidding history, and analyze their trading performance. 

• Search 

With thousands of NFTs listed on the marketplace, there should be a robust search engine. It will allow for quick searches of NFTs based on various search criteria like videos, music, or a metaverse. 

• Alerts

The NFT marketplace should be able to send notifications and alerts to users based on their transaction and search history. For example, if the price drops on a particular NFT, the platform can send a price alert so that users can decide on their next move — to buy or wait for a more significant price drop.  

• User history

NFT marketplaces need to keep track of all the transactions, including NFTs approved, bought, and sold. 

• Support 

Since NFTs are a newer commodity, therefore users may have many queries and questions. Comprehensive customer support via chat or a live call can enhance the user experience on your marketplace and convert customers into loyal clients. 

The most popular types of NFT marketplaces 

These are the most popular NFT marketplaces. They are categorized depending on the types of NFTs they deal with, including:

• Digital collectibles 
• Game characters 
• Real estate
• Music tokens 
• Stock investments 

Five reasons to choose Solana 

Solana is the fastest open-source blockchain network. It is ideal for DeFi, NFTs, and Web3 projects and is faster than many legacy blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin while charging significantly lower fees. Here are more reasons why it’s better to choose Solana for your NFT marketplace development:

• High transaction speed

Solana is all about speed, processing over 2,500 transactions per second when compared to the current Ethereum network with 30 transactions per second. 

• Lower transaction cost

Solana offers ultimate speed at a reasonable price of about $0.00025. Such low fees make it an ideal blockchain network for NFTs and NFT marketplaces.

• Instant transactions

Due to its high transaction speed, Solana doesn’t need a mempool for transactions to wait before being accepted. With Solana, you can make instant transactions. 

• Scalability 

The Solana ecosystem ensures compatibility between different ecosystems and maintains a unified global state. As the network scales, you won’t need to deal with sharded chains and fragmented Layer 2 systems. 

• Ease of use 

Solana uses the Rust programming language that eases the coding and building of various on-chain applications like dApps, NFT marketplaces, etc. 

How Unicsoft built an NFT marketplace on Solana

Launching a scalable and fast NFT marketplace requires particular skills and experience. At Unicsoft, our battle-tested blockchain developers and specialists know how to turn your business idea into a perfect development roadmap in five weeks. Here’s how we built an NFT marketplace on Solana:

1. Discovery. The client came to us with the idea of building a platform where independent NFT creators are able to distribute their works. Our project team conducted a series of workshops to gather requirements and identify pain points to resolve. Then, our team defined the functionality, agreed on technologies, and worked on a proof of concept. 
2. Work on the product concept. The Unicsoft team worked on a draft of a working MVP to showcase the platform’s features and user flow. 
3. Create smart contracts. Smart contracts are integral elements of an NFT marketplace. They are used to mint NFTs and trigger transactions when all the conditions are met. 
4. Set up crypto gateways. Gateways enable users to transfer, buy, and sell NFTs on the marketplace. 
5. Deploy and launch. When everything was set and tested, we deployed the NFT marketplace on the Mainnet and opened it to users. At Unicsoft, we provide life-long support for all our solutions. 

Summing up 

NFTs are seeing a global spike in popularity. More and more individuals and companies are entering the market, giving way to further growth. NFTs have also presented many new investment opportunities for creators and tech geeks. 

You can tap into the potential of NFTs with a custom NFT marketplace. Unicsoft can convert all your ideas into a fully-fledged business solution. Our experienced team of developers and product managers has in-depth knowledge of Solana and NFT market challenges. Become a pioneer in NFT trading and launch a Solana NFT Marketplace with us.