Is the asset infrastructure Metaplex in the Solana ecosystem worth following?

1. Introduction

Solana has become one of the best-performing public chains in this bull market, with a significant increase in the number of active addresses and market share of transaction fee revenue. Against this backdrop, Metaplex, as the infrastructure for assets in the Solana ecosystem, has also benefited greatly.

This article will analyze Metaplex from the following aspects:

• The business positioning and business model of Metaplex
• The business data performance of Metaplex
• The background and funding situation of the Metaplex team
• Valuation analysis of Metaplex token MPLX

2. The Business Positioning and Business Model of Metaplex

Metaplex is a digital asset creation, sales, and management system built on the Solana blockchain and supports SVM. It supports various types of crypto assets including NFTs, fungible tokens, RWA, and game assets.

Metaplex's main products include:

• Core: A new generation NFT standard that reduces costs through a single account design.
• Bubblegum: used to create and manage compressed NFTs
• Token Metadata: Attach metadata to the token
• Candy Machine: NFT minting and issuing program
• Aura: decentralized indexing and data availability network ( testing )

The business model of Metaplex is to charge fees by providing asset-related services. Its clients include both large projects and small projects as well as individual users.

Metaplex has a strong moat in the Solana ecosystem:

1. The user conversion cost is high
2. Its asset format has become the common standard within the ecosystem.

3. Metaplex Business Data Performance

Metaplex's core business metrics are performing strongly:

• Monthly active users: 845,000, year-on-year growth of 253%
• Monthly asset minting types: 1.44 million, a record high
• Monthly protocol revenue: 3.3 million USD, setting a new historical record.

It is worth noting that 94% of assets are minted as fungible tokens, mainly stemming from the Meme craze. The revenue growth of Metaplex is organic and does not rely on token subsidies.

4. Metaplex Team Background

Metaplex founder Stephen Hess was an early employee of Solana and participated in the development of several core projects of Solana.

Metaplex received a strategic investment of $46 million in January 2022, with a valuation of approximately $450 million.

The current team size is about 10 people, keeping it streamlined and efficient.

5. MPLX Token Analysis

The total supply of MPLX is 1 billion, and the current circulation rate is 75.6%.

Main utilities include:

• Governance voting rights
• 50% of the protocol revenue is used for buyback
• May be used for Aura node staking in the future

Compared to Raydium, Metaplex has a slightly higher valuation.

Advantages of Metaplex:

• Superior ecological niche, directly benefiting from the prosperity of Solana
• Business model verification, with a moat
• Actively expand new growth points
• The team has a strong background and is closely related to the ecosystem.
• Token buyback mechanism, relatively low market capitalization

Potential Risks:

• The decline in meme popularity affects revenue
• The sustainability of the revenue model remains to be seen.

Summary

Metaplex, as the infrastructure for all types of assets in the Solana ecosystem, is expected to continue benefiting from the development of the ecosystem. For investors who are optimistic about the prospects of Solana, Metaplex is worth long-term follow.