Metaplex DAO
Metaplex Protocol Revenue & $MPLX Buybacks
$1.1M USD (6,700 SOL) of protocol fees were used to buy back 6.7 million $MPLX (0.7% of total supply) for the Metaplex DAO. Each month, 50% of the prior month’s protocol fees are allocated to buying back $MPLX for the DAO.
Protocol fees reached $2.5M USD (13,344 SOL), the highest since February, driven by asset creation and accelerating adoption of Genesis, which contributed $422K in just its second month. 50% of these fees will be used to buy back $MPLX for the DAO throughout September.
With cumulative protocol fees surpassing $40 million (~281,000 SOL) to-date, Metaplex continues to scale as core infrastructure for onchain assets, while the DAO remains a key driver of governance, development, and ecosystem growth. The addition of Genesis as a new revenue line is diversifying fee composition and strengthening the DAO’s long-term treasury.
Metaplex Earn Campaign
Season 3 of Metaplex Earn continued throughout August, with liquidity incentives running consistently across both the MPLX-jitoSOL and MPLX-USDC vaults on Kamino. Weekly rewards held steady at 70,000 $MPLX and 6,000 $MPLX respectively, with partner token rewards from $ORCA distributed through Week 5.
By Week 6, rewards were streamlined to $MPLX-only, maintaining stable incentives for depositors while aligning with the campaign’s focus on strengthening onchain liquidity.
The campaign, approved by the DAO with a 2.5M $MPLX budget (including 1M $MPLX left over from Season 2), remains focused on deepening $MPLX liquidity and expanding its utility across Solana DeFi. Additional components, such as lending markets for $MPLX via Kamino v2, are in development and expected to roll out later in the season.
New DAO Voting Process Proposal
The DAO passed a new Voting Improvement proposal introduced by community member @socalstreet. The change adds two key features to non-technical proposals:
The ability to respond to proposals with counter-proposals during a 14-day discussion window.
A multiple-choice voting system that allows members to select between the original proposal, any counter-proposals, or a “No Action” option.
The new framework is designed to encourage deeper community engagement, reduce proposal fatigue, and ensure the DAO selects from the best available options rather than voting in isolation.
Although procedural thresholds were initially misconfigured, the onchain vote passed under >50% approval and was upheld. The Metaplex Foundation confirmed the proposal as passed and will implement the updated voting process for non-technical proposals going forward.
Metaplex DAO Grants
The DAO evaluated several new grant initiatives designed to expand developer tooling and community adoption.
A proposal to fund Overlay, a REST API platform designed to help web2 developers integrate web3 functionality, requested 2M $MPLX across three milestones. The proposal ultimately did not pass.
An ongoing proposal from Fogees Hub, led by Seb Montgomery and Dan, seeks 155K $MPLX to expand Metaplex’s visibility through an education initiative on Fogo Chain. The grant would produce dedicated explainer videos, weekly news coverage, and podcasts highlighting Metaplex’s role in powering token launches and NFT infrastructure. Voting remains live at the time of writing.
The DAO also supported grassroots developer activity through a Superteam Nigeria sprint, run in collaboration with Island DAO. Six teams integrated Metaplex standards during a two-week buildathon, with AirBillsPay (stablecoin-powered bill payments and loyalty NFTs) and Rust Undead (a learn-to-earn blockchain game) selected as winners. Each received a share of a 100,000 $MPLX prize pool (~$20K USD).
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