Metaplex is the most widely used digital asset protocol on Solana and the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). In its quarterly report for Q1 2025, the company reports astonishing growth in issuance of fungible tokens and stable, healthy revenue for the protocol. This protocol democratizes the design and ownership of these digital assets in multiple industries such as NFTs, memecoins, RWAs, gaming, and DePIN. It remains at the head of the Solana ecosystem, accounting for over 99% of NFT issuance and well over 90% of fungible token issuance on the network. With more than 1 billion cumulative transactions, Metaplex has undeniably become an important pillar in the Solana ecosystem. Despite some NFT categories dropping off, it remains popular enough to draw a million or so daily unique signers. Those benefits pushed the protocol to $8.3 million in fees, tying the record from Q2 of this year. It’s making all the right moves to maximize its usefulness through thoughtful upgrades and integrations.

Token Issuance Trends

These figures mark a considerable reversal in the burgeoning token issuance trend on the Metaplex protocol. During this time, the Token Metadata program experienced a fivefold increase in daily average mints. They roared up by 9.1% QoQ, skyrocketing from 43,396 in Q4 2024 to 46,863 in Q1 2025. That growth is especially impressive when we look at it YoY (year-over-year). In Q1 2024, we experienced a huge 55.7% jump to 34,500.

The main factor accounting for this YoY increase was an astounding 419% increase in issuance from fungible tokens. We’ve seen a clear shift toward more fungible tokens across the Solana ecosystem. This massive and fast-growing utilization is being led by the Metaplex protocol.

Not all categories experienced growth. Daily average mints from Core NFTs experienced a 35% QoQ drop, decreasing to 7,787. In a similar fashion, daily average mints from Bubblegum (cNFTs) saw a sharper decline of 75.1% QoQ, landing at 882,290 avg daily mints. Even with these declines, Core NFTs still held a higher baseline of issuance and showed stunning YoY growth of 389,257%.

Fungible Tokens Dominate Mints

One of the more interesting trends underscored in this report is the growing dominance of fungible tokens—meaning cryptocurrency—within the Metaplex ecosystem. In Q1 2025, fungible tokens made up 93.1% of all mints through the Token Metadata program. This represents an unmistakable jump from the 90.4% share recorded in last quarter’s Q4 2024. Fungible tokens have by now absolutely become the main asset type minted and governed on the Metaplex protocol.

The rapid transition to fungible tokens shows an increasing appetite. This broader trend is seen through applications such as memecoins, real-world assets (RWA), and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) on Solana. Metaplex’s infrastructure offers the tools and the framework developers need to easily create and manage these types of tokens.

Additionally, the report shows that during Q3, Metaplex crossed over 1 billion cumulative transactions. In January, the protocol reached an all time high of 82,900 daily unique signers. This recent uptick is a testament to the platform’s lasting appeal and its widespread adoption throughout the Solana ecosystem.

Protocol Enhancements and Strategic Integrations

Metaplex has been hard at work increasing its utility, accessibility, and functionality through a number of ongoing upgrades and integrations that we’ll break down below. All of these efforts serve to enhance the user experience and bring more developers and projects into the Metaplex ecosystem.

The Metaplex DAO has been essential to funding these efforts through grant programs. In Q1 2025, the DAO distributed grants to over 27 projects. WeRate and One Mug Coffee received funding to outfit their communities with tooling to connect to Metaplex Core. We hope these first integrations will open the door to new powerful functionalities and use cases on top of the protocol.

Metaplex has partnered with Drift Protocol to bring you Momentum. This new, highly-competitive, five-week accelerator program is designed to empower developers and entrepreneurs creating DeFi projects on the Solana blockchain. This collaborative effort is a testament to Metaplex’s dedication to driving innovation and prosperity within the decentralized finance ecosystem.