CoinMarketCap dives into SPL-404, a popular token standard that's shaking up the Solana ecosystem by tweaking NFTs to make them more appealing to a broader market.
If you’re a low-cap coin trader or NFT collector with a keen eye for crypto's emerging trends, you’ve likely heard of SPL-404.
It’s the popular token standard that's shaking up the Solana ecosystem by tweaking NFTs to make them more appealing to a broader market.
For NFT creators, SPL-404 provides a new way to monetize their work, allowing them to assign tangible value to their work. For collectors, SPL-404 offers greater liquidity and flexibility, making it easier to buy, sell, and trade NFTs. And for investors, SPL-404 introduces exciting opportunities for fractionalized ownership and the potential for earning yields through staking and other DeFi mechanisms.
It’s still early days though, and some early support issues are giving the hybrid token standard some unwanted Jekyll & Hide side effects when it comes to trading it.
In this guide, we’ll cover just what SPL-404 is, and why it is being implemented across diverse crypto niches such as GameFi, RWA and memecoins.
What Is SPL-404?
SPL-404 is an exciting new hybrid token standard that merges the uniqueness and collectibility of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the liquidity and tradability of conventional crypto tokens.
Built on Solana's Token22 standard, which allows for dual-purpose tokens, SPL-404 enables the creation of NFTs with an intrinsic fungible token value, with a twist.
The hybridization of Solana tokens is not new and has previously been introduced by other standards such as SPL-20 and SPL-22.
Its latest iteration of SPL-404, however, now allows the re-minting of tokens, which opens it up to gamification and, therefore, speculation based on rarity, an element that made the NFT space such an addictive sector to roll the dice on during its crazy 2021/2022 bull run heyday.
This means that each SPL-404 NFT isn't just a one-of-a-kind digital asset; it also holds a specific number of tokens that can be traded or exchanged. In short, it allows NFTs to be flipped into easy-to-trade tokens, and vice versa. This can be a godsend for traders who have found out the hard way that NFT markets can be very illiquid in periods of market downturn.
Here’s a very simple explanation by the Abble team:
- If you own a project’s SPL404 tokens, you can use them to provide liquidity and earn staking or yield farming revenue, or just trade it on a supported decentralized exchange (DEX) or Dapp as you wish.
- However, you can also convert your tokens into the project’s NFTs if you believe it has collectibility or it offers lucrative holder rewards.
- Every time you swap your tokens, you will be charged a small royalty-like fee that in most cases will be allocated to the project treasury or burned in order to reduce token supply.
Can SPL-404 Make NFTs Great Again?
Its arrival couldn't have been more timely, as the near-dead NFT market was in need of a miracle in order to be resurrected.
When 2023 rolled in, a DappGamble study found that 90% of NFT projects were essentially dead. By the end of last year, the NFT sector bounced back to a market cap of $1.5 billion, buoyed by the rise of Bitcoin Ordinals on MagicEden, Blur’s controversial new NFT marketplace model, and of course, Solana Summer’s NFT craze which saw the Proof-of-History chain post higher trading volumes than Ethereum, thanks to its low fees and ultra-fast transaction speeds.
To keep that momentum going though going into the next bull run, NFTs would have to adapt.
Enter SPL-404.
Who's Behind SPL-404?
The SPL-404 token standard on Solana was not invented by a single individual, but rather emerged as a loose concept from the Solana community that is not officially part of the Solana Program Library (SPL). SPL-404 was inspired by Ethereum's ERC-404 token standard but kicks things up a notch by introducing unique features like generative art and gamification through re-minting.
Building on the work of early projects like Bozo.finance’s Bozo Hybrid SPL-22 collection, MutantMon introduced the SPL404 token standard in February 2024 and brought the potential of hybrid NFTs to the attention of a wider audience.
How Is SPL-404 Revolutionizing NFTs and DeFi?
Primarily, it's bringing much-needed liquidity to the NFT market. By assigning a token value to each NFT, SPL-404 makes it easier to buy and sell these unique assets, even if there isn't a specific buyer looking for that particular item. This increased liquidity is a game-changer for the NFT space, which has often been hampered by illiquidity and high barriers to entry.
Secondly, it fractionalizes NFT ownership. Collectors can now own a piece of a valuable NFT without having to purchase the entire asset outright. This opens up the market to a wider range of participants, democratizing access to these unique digital items.
Finally, SPL-404 is pushing the boundaries of what's possible with NFTs, introducing innovative features like generative art and re-minting. These elements of randomness and gamification add a whole new layer of excitement and engagement to the NFT experience, keeping collectors and creators alike on their toes. An SPL-404 NFT is not only a unique piece of art, just like traditional NFTs, but comes with the added twist that it can "re-roll" traits to unlock rare and valuable characteristics.
What’s the Downside?
Of course, as with any new technology, there will be challenges and obstacles to overcome.
Regulatory uncertainty, market volatility, scam and hack risks and competition from other emerging standards are all factors that could impact the growth and success of SPL-404.
More pressingly though, SPL-404 tokens are still not widely supported by most DEXs and liquidity providers, and you might encounter a lack of compatibility with Solana’s trading tools like Jupiter, Raydium,Birdeye, and DexScreener. This is something I discovered last week when I bought into a new memecoin project and could only swap a fraction of my tokens until days later when the price had already tanked. Even now, a week after its launch, developers are still scrambling to solve these issues.
Therefore, please be advised to do your homework on any SPL-404 token you want to purchase. Make sure the project and its Solana-2022 format are supported by your marketplace of choice, or it could cost you dearly.
Conclusion
With so much upside thanks to the flexibility and utility it unlocks for both traders and NFT collectors, SPL-404 is definitely worth keeping an eye on. As more projects adopt this standard and new use cases emerge, we can expect to see SPL-404 continue to shape the future of NFTs and DeFi in exciting and unexpected ways. In the interim, just make sure the token you’re eyeing is supported on trading platforms.
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