Magic Eden Pulls Plug on Bitcoin and Ethereum Help, Doubles Down on Solana – Decrypt

Magic Eden co-founder and CEO Jack Lu disclosed on Friday that the NFT market and token buying and selling platform is ending assist for Ethereum-compatible and Bitcoin-based property.

In lower than two weeks, Magic Eden customers will now not have the ability to commerce property related to the networks on its platform, Lu stated on X. That features property minted on Ethereum scaling networks like Polygon and Base, in addition to Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes meme cash.

Magic Eden’s self-custodial pockets will see comparable modifications, Lu stated, with plans to now not assist the property at first of April. He stated {the marketplace} will proceed to assist these inside Solana’s ecosystem, the place the NFT market debuted in 2021.

The transfer, which was first reported by Blockspace Media, marks a major shift in Magic Eden’s method to person adoption. The corporate had beforehand change into the most important NFT market by buying and selling quantity by pioneering a multi-chain method, whereas cornering the once-hot marketplace for Bitcoin-based Ordinals years in the past.

Magic Eden signaled final yr that it was constructing past the ever-cooling marketplace for digital collectibles by buying Slingshot Finance, a mobile-first crypto buying and selling utility. On the time, efforts to interrupt into the marketplace for meme coin buying and selling have been poised throughout a number of chains.

In January, Lu unveiled Dicey, saying that the crypto on line casino and sportsbook would place the corporate to capitalize on a “hypothesis supercycle.” On Friday, Lu stated that the corporate is continuous to orient itself round  “the large alternative in iGaming.”

As a part of the shift, Lu stated that the corporate will now not conduct NFT buybacks. In the meantime, the agency will search to refine how its ME token is used throughout merchandise, Lu stated.

Magic Eden’s ME token, which can be utilized to earn rewards and take part within the mission’s governance, modified arms round 12 cents on Friday, in keeping with CoinGecko. The token’s worth has plummeted 97% from a peak of $5.63 after its debut in December 2024.

Since its debut, Magic Eden has raised $140 million in complete funding, in keeping with Crunchbase. That consists of a $130 million Collection B funding spherical in 2022, which valued the agency at a whopping $1.6 billion, and was co-led by enterprise capital corporations Greylock and Electrical Capital.

Magic Eden was amongst earliest adopters of Ordinals and Runes, racing to assist the property that resemble NFTs and meme cash on Bitcoin earlier than most top-tier exchanges. The corporate continued to solidify its lead with Ordinals and Runes, at the same time as these markets cooled.

Final month, Magic Eden generated $576 million in buying and selling quantity throughout digital collectibles, in keeping with a Dune dashboard. Though that exercise was principally centered round NFTs on Solana, $121,000 in buying and selling quantity got here from Bitcoin-based property over the interval.

It seems that some initiatives are able to take up the mantle so far as Bitcoin-based property go. Taproots Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer stated on X earlier this month {that a} devoted market for the Ordinals-focused mission is “coming quickly.”