Michael Jordan is investing in Solana as it is firming its ground.
This comes as other prominent people have begun supporting and investing in the future of NFTs and Metaplex.
A $46 million funding round has recently been completed, which included prominent athletes and NBA legends Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.
The seed funding is for the development and building of the Solana-based NFT marketplace called Metaplex.
The Metaplex Foundation has raised an enormous amount of $46 million in a round led by Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto, with participation from Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, and metaverse investment firm Animoca Brands.
Last October 2021, Solana was introduced as an alternative NFT network to Ethereum, and it drew a lot of attention as the NFT industry grew.
The protocol that underpins millions of Solana NFTs has now received sponsorship from a number of notable figures, including the NBA icon.
Developing Solana and Metaplex
Cointelegraph reported that the funds Metaplex raised are also one of the numerous pieces of evidence demonstrating that current blockchain networks are trying to benefit from the technological advancements of Web3.
To alleviate the support of its strategic pivot into metaverse applications, Metaplex has reported a $46 million token sale.
Beginning this year, the Metaplex Foundation, which supports the Metaplex protocol's development, will be able to increase its support for metaverse and gaming applications, thanks to the token round.
Metaplex has already been utilized to produce over 5.7 million digital collectibles for 85,000 projects as an NFT-first protocol, according to the company.
in June 2021, with support from cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Metaplex was able to launch its NFT marketplace.
The platform was created to help the small yet booming NFT community with infrastructure.
Even with the market-wide dip experienced, the NFT industry is expected to expand this year, following a record-breaking year in 2021, when creators made over $17 billion in sales.
The Metaplex Foundation may engage closely with creators while developing new Solana tools by enlisting the help of a variety of sportsmen and entertainers as strategic investors.
Michael Jordan Metaverse and More
In addition to those corporations, the investment round included more than 90 individual investors, including Jordan and fellow retired NBA great Allen Iverson, as well as current stars Kevin Love and Joel Embiid.
Among those who attended were New York Knicks Executive Vice President William Wesley, entrepreneur Shari Glazer, DJ duo The Chainsmokers' Mantis VC firm, and others.
According to Decrypt, speedier transactions and reduced fees for customers have always been the most knowledge of Solana in the blockchain.
This is the result of its hybrid consensus approach combining proof-of-stake and proof-of-history since Solana is promoted as a more energy-efficient Ethereum competitor.
Although Ethereum continues to be the most popular NFT environment in terms of trade volume and has more high-profile and valuable collections, Solana's emerging community is generally regarded as more accessible and approachable.
Metaplex Rival
Metaplex hired Adam Jefferies as its new CEO in September 2021, as well as high-profile board members from Coinshares, Saber Labs, and Cultur3 Capital.
According to Business Insider, the overall market value of Solana's NFT market just reached $1 billion, sparking interest in the firm.
In the NFT industry, Ethereum is losing ground to rivals, according to JPMorgan, and that Solana could benefit.
The bank's analysts discovered that Ethereum's NFT volume share has declined from 95% to roughly 80% in the last year due to sky-high transaction costs on the network.
