The Metaplex Team has unveiled the new Execute feature for Metaplex Core, an innovation that equips the most programmable and cost-effective NFT standard on Solana with Asset Signer capabilities.

Execute gives signer capabilities to every Core Asset, enabling autonomous ownership and actions that are no longer permanently tied to the owner. Instead, these capabilities travel with the NFT, allowing it to accrue value independently and potentially function as a revenue-generating asset.

In this blog post, we’re going to explore how the Execute feature works and its applications across various verticals, including AI Agents, DeFi, and a more user-friendly approach to blockchain interactions. These advancements have the potential to drive the next wave of consumer-driven onchain activity, powered by the Metaplex digital asset economy and ecosystem.

The Asset Signers introduced with the Execute feature function as Signers on behalf of the asset itself, unlocking powerful new capabilities, including:

• Transferring Solana and SPL Tokens.

• Becoming the Authority of other accounts.

• Executing actions and validations that require transaction, instruction, or CPI (Cross Program Invocation) signing.

Essentially, the Execute feature links an asset to a wallet associated with a Core Asset, enabling the Asset Signer account to effectively own and execute account instructions on behalf of the current asset owner.

If you want to learn more about it, you can look at the developer hub for a more detailed explanation

Use cases

The possibilities with this new feature are endless, but in this blog, we’re going to analyze the 2 use cases that we’re currently looking at gaining good traction in the Metaplex Developer Ecosystem.

NFT-AI

Asset Signers make AI-powered digital assets possible by allowing NFTs to function as on-chain agents that sign transactions and interact with smart contracts independently. This creates new and exciting opportunities at the intersection of AI and NFTs:

• Autonomous AI-Driven Assets: NFTs can automatically execute DeFi strategies, manage treasuries, or provide various services without constant user intervention.

• Programmable DAOs: Digital assets become active participants in decentralized governance, voting, executing proposals, and interacting with governance contracts through built-in signer capabilities.

• Bridging AI and Blockchain: By integrating AI with NFTs, assets become decision-making entities that can react, adapt, and evolve within Web3 applications.

One of the most thrilling possibilities is using this technology to create on-chain NPCs for virtual worlds and AI economies—agents that truly “come to life.” Imagine a game world running 24/7, filled with autonomous NPCs that interact with each other, manage their own inventories, and even earn income.

With an Asset Signer, this NPC NFT can transact, update its metadata, trigger game actions, store funds, and make decisions in the “metaverse”. In other words, it becomes a fully autonomous agent within the game’s ecosystem, unlocking a whole new realm of on-chain creativity and economic potential.

NFT-FI

Explaining liquidity pools, Solana accounts, and Program Derived Addresses (PDAs) to a non-crypto savvy audience can be a challenge since these technical concepts aren’t part of most people’s daily routines. Now imagine if all that complexity were wrapped into something they already understand: NFTs.

This shift would dramatically improve user experience by letting people monitor all their DeFi positions directly from their wallets without having to juggle multiple websites or digging around for data. Meanwhile, the protocol could benefit from faster account fetching by leveraging DAS, Metaplex indexer for digital assets, and newly optimized query responses from Aura, Metaplex decentralized read layer, to streamline the handling of these digital assets.

A great example of how this might work is with a platform like Lulo, a stablecoin lending aggregator that constantly “cranks” rewards and positions to ensure users get the best rates. By wrapping each position in an NFT and using the Execute function to rebalance, Lulo could automatically update onchain attributes that would then be visible in wallets like Backpack, and let users view their latest balances in real time, all from the comfort of a single, familiar interface.

Conclusion

Metaplex continues to push the boundaries of digital asset innovation by consistently enhancing both developer and consumer experiences. The newly introduced Execute feature exemplifies this commitment, unlocking a world of creative potential to elevate the blockchain status quo.

About the Metaplex Foundation:

The Metaplex Foundation is a non-profit foundation that supports the development and growth of the Metaplex ecosystem. For further information, visit metaplex.com or contact @metaplex on Twitter/X for more information.