Author: Xiyou, ChainCatcher
Editor: Nianqing, ChainCatcher
The economic model of the ME Token will be announced on November 18th. This is the latest update revealed by Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu in his live stream on November 8th. This news undoubtedly brings long-awaited hope to the crypto community, marking the realization of Magic Eden's wish to issue a token.
In the TestME token claiming test activity that ended on November 1st, the activity attracted over 400,000 wallet addresses to actively participate in the claiming process within just 3 days of launch. This activity, as a critical technical verification before the ME Token's official launch, its successful completion indicates that the ME Token's TGE (official launch) is not far away.
As the ME Token's launch date approaches, every progress update of Magic Eden not only attracts the attention of the crypto community, but also prompts people to re-examine the value of the Magic Eden platform and assess its future development potential.
Magic Eden has evolved from an initial single NFT trading platform to a comprehensive ecosystem integrating wallet services, NFT trading, Token trading, and cross-chain bridge functions. This transformation is eye-catching.
Soon, users will be able to easily trade all on-chain assets on the Magic Eden DApp, with its rich product features rivaling a "decentralized Binance/Coinbase".
Over 400,000 test token TestME claiming addresses, ME Token economic model to be announced on November 18th
As an important driving force in the Magic Eden ecosystem, the ME Token has continued to attract close attention from the crypto market since its announcement in August. Recently, Magic Eden has been very active, first launching the TestME token claiming test on October 29th, and then previewing in the November 7th live stream that the ME Token's economic model will be unveiled on November 18th.
TestME is a test version token carefully crafted by the ME Foundation, aiming to allow users to familiarize themselves with the claiming process after the ME Token's launch, and to provide the platform with the final technical verification opportunity. It has no Token value itself, but serves as a medium for users to get familiar with the ME Token claiming process. Through the TestME claiming, Magic Eden was able to test the user experience of using the Magic Eden Wallet, and prepare thoroughly for the official launch of the ME Token.
On October 29th, the TestME test token was opened for claiming. In addition to the US and UK, users participating in the TestME token claiming must meet two specific conditions: either have recently used a wallet on the Magic Eden platform, or have had at least one transaction over $100 in the past 6 months; and a portion of users who have recently traded Tokens on-chain were also randomly selected.
On the first day of the launch, the number of participating wallet addresses quickly exceeded 250,000, and the enthusiastic participation of users caused the Magic Eden Wallet app to surge to the 69th position on the App Store. On November 1st, the TestME claiming activity was successfully completed.
Although Magic Eden has repeatedly emphasized that the TestME token is only for technical testing and has no actual value, and has warned users against speculative trading, the performance of TestME in the secondary market has still been eye-catching, with active trading and a pre-market price once soaring to $0.58, with a market capitalization exceeding $11 million. As of November 11th, the pre-market price of TestME is still around $0.35, indicating the market's strong interest and expectation for the ME Token launch.
In the November 7th live stream, CEO Jack Lu conducted a comprehensive review and summary of the TestME claiming activity. He revealed that within 3 days of the TestME test token claiming activity going live, the number of participating wallet addresses had exceeded 400,000, and they had received a large amount of valuable feedback from users, which is of great significance for future product optimization and improvement, and will help identify and resolve any potential issues before the official ME Token launch.
However, the TestME claiming activity also sparked some controversy. Some users felt that Magic Eden's requirement to download its wallet app to obtain the test token was a way to promote its wallet, and the process was somewhat complex.
Nevertheless, the TestME claiming activity was successfully completed, marking the completion of the last technical verification for the ME Token launch, which undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for the official launch of Magic Eden's native ME Token.
As a utility Token within the Magic Eden ecosystem, it is revealed that the staking function will be enabled on the first day of launch. The ME Token is not only an important tool for incentivizing users and developers, but will also drive the sustained prosperity and development of the Magic Eden ecosystem. Jack Lu previously stated that the ME Token will be used as an incentive medium to incentivize users to use and participate in platform building, with a particular focus on the interests of long-term active users.
The ME Token is developed and launched by the ME Foundation entity, and distributed through the Magic Eden Wallet app. Through the ME Token incentive mechanism, it aims to attract more users, developers and other stakeholders to actively participate in the construction of the Magic Eden ecosystem.
In the November 7th live stream, co-founder Jack Lu officially announced that the ME Foundation will unveil the economic model of the ME Token on November 18th, at which time users will be able to fully understand the specific allocation of the ME Token. Subsequently, the ME Foundation also officially confirmed this news. This announcement undoubtedly injects new vitality and expectations into the future development of the Magic Eden ecosystem.
Magic Eden trading volume has been the NFT market leader for six consecutive months
Established in 2021, Magic Eden was initially known to users as a single NFT trading platform. But in the 3rd anniversary celebration event just passed in September, people were pleasantly surprised to find that Magic Eden has successfully transitioned from a Solana-based single NFT trading platform to a comprehensive ecosystem operating across multiple chains.
According to the NFT market data report released by CoinGecko in September, in August, the trading volume of the Magic Eden platform was $122.47 million, with a market share of 36.7%, ranking first in the NFT trading market for the sixth consecutive month.
Magic Eden was founded on September 17, 2021 by crypto industry veterans Jack Lu, Zhuoxun Yi (former core member of dYdX), and ZhuoJie Zhou. Initially, it was a Solana-focused NFT market, and quickly attracted a large number of NFT creators and collectors thanks to Solana's high efficiency and low fees, and with its own professional services, innovative features, and smooth user experience, it quickly became the largest NFT trading market on the Solana chain, handling over 90% of NFT trading volume.
During the market peak in 2022, Magic Eden's trading volume and user activity even surpassed OpenSea, making it a leader in the NFT field. And in June of that year, it completed a $130 million Series B financing with a valuation of $1.6 billion, bringing its total public financing to $149.4 million.
Of course, Magic Eden has also experienced downturns and challenges. With the crypto market downturn and the cooling of the NFT market, Magic Eden has faced unprecedented challenges. The impact of the FTX collapse on the Solana ecosystem has also temporarily put Magic Eden's development in difficulty.
Even in such adversity, Magic Eden has not only not stagnated, but has also demonstrated its strong resilience and innovation capabilities. Not only has it actively expanded its NFT market, but it has also implemented a multi-chain operation strategy, such as announcing a collaboration with Yuga Labs to develop a new NFT trading market, and expanding to support chains like Polygon to cover a wider range of digital assets.
In 2023, with the rise of the new form of Bit NFT, Ordinals, Magic Eden, with its strong foresight and execution, has seized the opportunity again. It quickly adjusted its strategy and actively embraced the Bit NFT wave.
First, in January, Magic Eden launched the multi-chain wallet Magic Eden Wallet, providing a one-stop NFT asset management service for users of Solana, Bit, Polygon and Ethereum networks. Then in March, Magic Eden launched its Bit NFT market, providing users with comprehensive support for minting, buying and selling Bit NFTs. With the arrival of the Runes rune craze in April, Magic Eden quickly launched the Bit Runes platform, further enriching its NFT trading ecosystem.
Driven by the hype around Bit Ordinals and Runes, Magic Eden's trading volume has surged. In April alone, the platform completed $486 million in NFT trading volume, with an average of 50% of Ordinals trading volume occurring on Magic Eden, making it the leader in the Bit NFT trading field and once again the focus of industry attention.
In the business data disclosed by Matt Szenics, the director of the ME Foundation, in August, the total transaction volume processed by Magic Eden has reached $6 billion, accounting for over 80% of the market share in all Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes Runes markets.
According to the latest data from the NFTPulse data platform on November 11, within the past year, the transaction fees captured by the Magic Eden platform have reached $58.39 million, accounting for about 60% of the entire NFT market revenue, making it the NFT marketplace with the highest current income.
Data source: https://www.nftpulse.org/marketplaces
In a previous public interview, Jack Lu stated that through the expansion of new Non-Fungible Token formats such as Runes and Ordinals, Magic Eden's performance has outperformed most NFT markets, setting the best year to date. Compared to 2023, Magic Eden's monthly active users have grown by 200%, and its revenue has grown by 639% this year.
From a single Non-Fungible Token transaction to a "wallet + Non-Fungible Token transaction + Token Swap + cross-chain" multi-functional ecosystem
Today, Magic Eden has gone beyond the scope of the traditional Non-Fungible Token trading market and has already evolved from a single Non-Fungible Token trading platform into a comprehensive ecosystem that integrates Non-Fungible Token trading, wallet services, Token Swap, and cross-chain functions.
While the core Non-Fungible Token business has been steadily growing, Magic Eden has actually been constantly exploring and expanding into new business areas.
The multi-chain wallet Magic Eden Wallet, launched in January this year, not only provides users with a one-stop, cross-chain Non-Fungible Token asset trading and management convenience service, but will also become the traffic entrance to the future Web3 world. In August, the wallet added Token trading functionality, marking Magic Eden's foray into the homogeneous Token trading domain while supporting Non-Fungible Token trading. Furthermore, Magic Eden is considering further expanding its business into yield-bearing services such as Token staking, providing users with more diversified financial services.
Magic Eden's CEO, Jack Lu, has publicly stated on multiple occasions that Magic Eden's vision is to build a one-stop on-chain asset trading comprehensive platform comparable to "on-chain Binance", where users will be able to complete all on-chain asset transactions through the Magic Eden platform.
In addition to supporting the trading of all types of Non-Fungible Tokens, including Ordinals and Runes, Magic Eden also provides Token trading and asset cross-chain exchange functions, covering all chains and all types of assets. It is gradually building a one-stop crypto asset trading center or on-chain aggregated DEX, encompassing diversified functions such as trading, lending, and Launchpad, with the aim of becoming a "decentralized Binance/Coinbase".
This means that, whether it's Non-Fungible Tokens or Tokens, regardless of which chain they are on, and whatever type of yield-bearing activity (such as lending or staking) the user wants to engage in, they only need to use the Magic Eden DApp in a very simple way to discover trading opportunities and complete all asset transactions, without the need to download different trading DApps and wallets for each chain.
This transformation of Magic Eden stems from its deep insights into the Non-Fungible Token market and its accurate grasp of the development trends in the crypto industry. As the Non-Fungible Token market has evolved, users' demand for diversified services such as wallets, Token trading, and cross-chain exchange has been steadily increasing. Magic Eden has been able to quickly capture this trend and take action, launching a new wallet feature that supports multiple chains and assets, providing users with a more convenient and secure trading experience.
At the same time, Magic Eden's expansion into Token trading and cross-chain exchange services has further enriched its product line, creating diversified revenue streams beyond Non-Fungible Token trading, and providing more possibilities for future growth.
It is reported that currently, about 20% of Magic Eden's revenue comes from Token trading.
Regarding this strategic change, Jack Lu stated that they will not reduce their investment in Non-Fungible Tokens, but will instead further increase their investment. He also acknowledged the many uncertainties in the crypto market, and that by diversifying their business into more categories and use cases, Magic Eden will become more resilient.
Through continuous strategic adjustments and innovative service optimizations, adopting a multi-chain layout and a diversified product strategy, Magic Eden has carved out a unique path in the Non-Fungible Token market, differentiating itself from pure Non-Fungible Token trading platforms like Opensea and Blur.
Currently, Magic Eden has integrated the ecosystems of Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, and ApeChain, supporting the trading of various Non-Fungible Tokens and Tokens on its platform.
Regarding cross-chain deployment, Magic Eden has repeatedly stated that it will complete the integration of 10 chains by the end of this year.
In the future, Jack Lu has revealed in interviews that in 2025, Magic Eden will focus on community building, drive product internationalization, and expand its global business.
With the arrival of the ME Token and the current bullish crypto market, the dual positive factors are expected to drive Magic Eden towards a more prosperous and sustainable future.
