Following the excitement generated by the launch of the Ordinals protocol on the Bitcoin Blockchain, which enabled the minting and distribution of NFTs, the Solana (SOL) network has entered a new phase. Metaplex, a leading altcoin on the Solana blockchain, has introduced a new standard for Solana NFTs called Metaplex Inscriptions and Engravings in response to the hype caused by Bitcoin NFTs.
Metaplex, which has facilitated the creation of over 110 million NFTs and hosts 15 million NFT collections on the Solana Blockchain, announced the new standard that will allow the metadata and media content of Solana NFTs to be stored directly on the network. This move is set to revolutionize how NFTs are managed on Solana, offering a more integrated and blockchain-centric approach to NFT storage.
Currently, most NFTs on Solana store their metadata and media content on external services such as Arweave, IPFS, and S3. This means that the visual and metadata of an NFT are not stored on Solana itself, relying instead on an external system for storage.
With the introduction of Metaplex Inscriptions, the reliance on external systems is eliminated, allowing for the complete storage of an asset’s metadata and media content on the Solana blockchain. This enhances the integrity and customizability of on-chain attributes and smart contracts.
Metaplex has also announced Engravings, which provides an additional layer of security for NFTs with Engravings, preventing any changes to the NFTs regardless of whether the source program is immutable. The new standard has been sent to the developer network (devnet) for testing, and after this phase, it is expected to be made available for general use, enabling the minting of new NFTs and the conversion of existing NFTs to this new standard.