Metaplex June Round-Up 2025

June Highlights

• Solana Launchpads - June topped 1m fungible tokens, driven by platforms like Pump.Fun, Bonk, Raydium, Jupiter, and Believe, as competition heated up amongst Solana launchpads.

• Protocol Fees - Protocol fees reached $1.7m (~11K SOL) in June, bringing the cumulative amount since inception to $36m (~245K SOL). 

• $MPLX Buyback - 6,740 SOL of Metaplex protocol fees were used to buy back 8.6m $MPLX (~1% of total supply) for the Metaplex DAO, the second largest buyback ever in terms of quantity of $MPLX purchased.

• Binance & Bitget Listings - $MPLX expanded to new global markets with listings on Binance Alpha and Bitget Onchain.

• Metaplex CLI - The new Metaplex CLI went live in public beta, giving developers a faster, streamlined way to mint, manage, and build.

Protocol Activity

In June, 1.1m Token Metadata assets were created, including 1.0m fungible tokens (96%). Metaplex has emerged as one of the primary beneficiaries of the Solana launchpad wars, with Pump.Fun, Bonk, Raydium, Jupiter, Launchcoin (Believe), Meteora, TimeDotFun, and others all using Metaplex’s Token Metadata to create new tokens (Blockworks dashboard here). Cumulatively, over 17 million fungible tokens have been minted using Token Metadata.

Core adoption continued in June, nearing 3 million total mints to date. Over 193k Core assets were created, up 7% MoM, reflecting continued momentum for Metaplex’s most advanced NFT standard.

In June, creators and developers minted over 12 million digital assets through Metaplex, including 10 million compressed NFTs. Cumulatively, over 900 million assets have been created through Metaplex.Metaplex continued to see strong engagement, with 449k unique wallets signing transactions in June, bringing the total number of unique singers since launch to over 11 million.Metaplex was the 6th largest Solana protocol based on active wallets and the 8th largest protocol based on active wallets.340k new wallets collected a Token Metadata asset and 4.7 million new wallets collected a Bubblegum NFT in the month of June.

Developer Platform

New Metaplex CLI

June saw the public beta release of the new Metaplex CLI, a streamlined command-line tool designed to simplify token and NFT creation on Solana. The CLI gives developers full control to create, manage, and update Core NFTs, fungible tokens, collections, and wallets, all from the terminal.

With support for rapid asset creation, interactive wizards, flexible wallet and RPC management, and built-in tools like rent calculators, the CLI makes launching and managing digital assets faster and easier than ever. It’s cross-platform, open-source, and optimized for speed and efficiency, offering one of the best developer experiences in crypto.

Developers can install the CLI and access full documentation and examples via the Metaplex Developer Hub.

Bubblegum V2

Launched at the end of May, Bubblegum v2 brings the next generation of compressed NFTs to Solana, designed for large-scale, programmable assets with onchain royalties, permissioned transfers, evolving attributes, and more.

Momentum continued in June, with projects like Matrica leveraging Bubblegum v2 to automate access control, role management, and community rewards across Solana and beyond. Full documentation and SDKs are now live for developers ready to build scalable, low-cost NFT experiences.

Community educator @yuki_solana published new developer guides in June, walking builders through how to create and manage compressed NFTs with Bubblegum v2. The video tutorials cover setup, minting, and integration basics for the latest generation of scalable NFTs on Solana.

Core

June brought another quality-of-life improvement for Core, Metaplex’s advanced NFT standard. The Core UI now displays both AppData and LinkedAppData for assets and collections, making it easier for developers to view, debug, and build with AppData-powered features like streaks, points, and in-game progress. Developers can explore the update at core.metaplex.com.

Metaplex DAO

Metaplex Protocol Fees & $MPLX Buybacks

~$1.1M (6,740 SOL) of protocol fees were used to buy back 8.6 million $MPLX (~0.9% of total supply) for the Metaplex DAO, marking the second-largest monthly buyback ever by quantity of $MPLX tokens repurchased.Each month, 50% of the prior month’s protocol fees are allocated to buying back $MPLX for the DAO. 

June protocol fees totaled $1.7M (11,124 SOL), driven by tokenization across Solana and the SVM. 50% of these fees will be used to buy back $MPLX for the DAO throughout July.With cumulative protocol fees surpassing $36 million (~255,000 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.

Metaplex Earn Campaign

Season 2 of Metaplex Earn officially concluded in June, wrapping up a 12-week liquidity campaign that distributed over 1.5 million $MPLX and partner token rewards to LPs across Solana.

The final stretch of the campaign maintained incentives across both the flagship MPLX-jitoSOL vault and the newer MPLX-USDC vault, providing weekly rewards of up to 76,000 $MPLX, 500 $JTO, and 140 $ORCA. Combined, both vaults generated over $130K in DEX trading fees since the campaign’s inception, reinforcing on-chain liquidity and driving more $MPLX activity into DeFi.

Building on this success, the Metaplex DAO is now voting on a proposal for Metaplex Earn Season 3. The new campaign, developed by Forgd and in partnership with Kamino, Orca, and Jito, aims to introduce lending markets for $MPLX via Kamino v2, while continuing to support liquidity across existing DEX pools.

The Season 3 proposal includes a 2.5M $MPLX budget (1.5M $MPLX from the DAO and 1M $MPLX rolled over from Season 2) and aims to deepen market efficiency, unlock capital for holders, and expand $MPLX utility across the Solana DeFi ecosystem.

MTP-004: Extended Claim Period with SOL-MPLX Liquidity Provisioning

Last month the Metaplex DAO voted to approve MTP-004, which extends the period for NFT holders to claim excess SOL resulting from the TM resize initiative by 18 months, while also provisioning SOL for SOL-MPLX liquidity.

Per the DAO’s instruction, the new smart contract and UI for the extended claim pool are under development. Once ready, the remaining storage accounts will be optimized, sending ~5.2k SOL (10%) to a claim pool that will be automatically topped up as needed while allocating ~46.8k SOL (90%) to SOL-MPLX liquidity. After 18 months, the DAO can vote on what to do with any unclaimed funds. 

Metaplex DAO Grants

Cohort 1 of the Metaplex DAO Grants Program officially concluded in June, marking a key milestone in advancing Core and MPL-404 adoption. The program distributed $160,000 in funding (100K USDC + 1M locked MPLX) to 12 grantees from a pool of 76 applicants, with support from the Metaplex DAO Grants Working Group led by IslandDAO.

The initiative prioritized open-source contributions and protocol-aligned growth. Early results are already visible, with teams like Verxio, Publique, Faenora, Silicons, Nomadz, RubiansVR, and WeRate building on top of Metaplex infrastructure and pushing innovation onchain.

With a 15.8% acceptance rate and average grant size of $8,200, the program reflects a targeted approach to ecosystem support, using grants as a tool to deepen protocol integration and drive real adoption.

Applications for Cohort 2 are now open. Learn more at metaplexdaogrants.replit.app.

Partnership Highlights

Binance

$MPLX is now live on Binance Alpha, marking a major milestone for Metaplex and expanding access to one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.

The listing kicked off with an airdrop for eligible Binance Alpha users, followed by a two-week trading competition for those who trade $MPLX through the Binance Wallet or Binance Alpha.

Bitget

$MPLX officially launched on Bitget Onchain, expanding access to new markets through one of the fastest-growing global exchanges.

The listing was accompanied by a trading competition, featuring a $100,000 prize pool in BGB for $MPLX traders. Participants could win by placing qualifying trades, with additional rewards for lucky buyers during the event window.

Shelby

Metaplex announced a partnership with Shelby, the decentralized storage protocol built by Jump and Aptos Labs. Shelby delivers hot, decentralized, monetizable storage designed to support high-volume, data-rich crypto applications.

By integrating Shelby alongside Metaplex’s onchain programs and developer tools, creators and developers building on Solana will be able to access scalable, chain-agnostic storage solutions with sub-second data reads and real-time monetization potential, critical for powering the next wave of onchain apps.

Community

Permissionless

The Metaplex team joined founders, builders, and infrastructure leaders at Permissionless NYC, one of the flagship events for technical and DeFi-focused conversations.

Stephen Hess (Director at the Metaplex Foundation) spoke on stage alongside teams from Story Protocol, Aptos, and Soon, discussing the future of decentralized infrastructure, how to scale onchain apps, and the importance of reliability without sacrificing decentralization.

The Metaplex team also connected with partners and developers throughout the event, reinforcing its role as the tokenization layer for Solana.

Solana Solstice

Metaplex was proud to support Solana Solstice, a 3-day event in NYC and the first consumer-oriented "non-conference conference" powered by MonkeDAO. As a Platinum Partner, Metaplex joined leaders across the ecosystem to explore how Solana is scaling consumer apps, NFTs, and onchain experiences.

Clay Helms (BD at Metaplex Foundation) spoke on a main stage panel alongside founders from Madlads, BONK, Claynosaurz and MonkeDAO.

Metaplex also partnered with PUBLIQUE and Solana Foundation to sponsor the closing gallery event at Lume Studios, featuring Solana-native art, auctions, and film screenings.

Metaplex contributed to the Charity Claw Machine activation during Solana Solstice, supporting Buddies for Paws alongside MonkeDAO, Bonk, Solflare, Ledger, and other ecosystem partners. The machine featured collectible NFTs provided by Metaplex from Portals, Player2, SolanaMBS, and Collector Crypt, with all proceeds going to charity.

To help bring new faces to the event, Metaplex distributed Solstice passes through an open community giveaway.

OnionDAO

Metaplex sponsored OnionDAO’s Chicago residency, a month-long IRL activation for builders, developers, and crypto newcomers hosted from June 16 to July 11. The event brought the Solana ecosystem together under one roof, with workshops, talks, and community programming.

Nicholas Strange (BD at Metaplex Foundation) presented on how Metaplex powers token and NFT standards across Solana, and shared an early preview of Genesis, the upcoming Metaplex product suite for onchain token offerings.

Metaplex also supported GREED Academy’s Blockchain 101 course throughout the residency, onboarding new users with $MPLX, $SOL, and $USDC to help them take their first steps into Solana. The course was made possible with support from Solflare, SNS, Spiderswap, and Raposa.

Colosseum Breakout Hackathon

The Solana Breakout Hackathon, hosted by Colosseum and sponsored by Metaplex, concluded with over 10,000 participants from 140+ countries and 1,412 project submissions, the largest crypto hackathon to date.

Metaplex sponsored the Gaming Track, with Crypto Fantasy League taking first place for their fantasy sports platform built entirely on Solana. Additional Gaming Track winners included Chosendotfun, Scrim, Block Stranding, and Lana Roads (by Send Arcade).

Winners were also selected across Consumer, DeFi, AI, Infrastructure, Stablecoin, and DePIN categories, with standout projects like TapeDrive (Grand Champion), Trepa (Consumer), Vanish (DeFi), Latinum (AI), FluxRPC (Infrastructure), CargoBill (Stablecoin), and Decen Space (DePIN) taking home top prizes.

The full list of winning projects reflects the growing momentum for Solana infrastructure, tokenization, and consumer applications, with many powered by Metaplex.

Superteam Europe & Balkan Startup Village

Metaplex joined forces with Superteam communities across Europe in June, supporting early-stage builders and connecting with the next wave of projects participating in the Colosseum Breakout Hackathon.

In Croatia, Scharko from Metaplex Foundation participated in Superteam Balkan’s Startup Village, delivering a session on token generation, joining a panel with Solflare and SOLYD to discuss the state of Solana, and connecting with founders driving growth in the region.

Later that week, Scharko participated in Superteam Europe’s Demo Day, running a workshop titled “Token Generation on Solana,” helping teams better understand how Metaplex standards power token launches and digital assets across the ecosystem.

Application Ecosystem

The application ecosystem continued to evolve in June, with new Metaplex integrations spanning across mobile, AI, identity, and token tooling. From milestone growth to new product launches, teams are driving broader adoption of tokenized experiences on Solana.

• ChainGPT integrated Metaplex Core, allowing users to generate, mint, and deploy large-scale NFT collections directly from their AI-powered platform.

• Solana AppKit by SEND launched with native Metaplex integrations, offering mobile devs an open-source kit to build Solana apps in minutes.

• Pipe Network conducted its $PIPE token sale on CoinList, expanding decentralized CDN infrastructure on Solana.

• SendAI partnered with Raydium, enabling autonomous AI agents to launch tokens directly on LaunchLab via simple prompts.

• Matrica surpassed 1 million users, driven by growing demand for Matrica Connect and new features powered by Metaplex.

• Codigo launched a comprehensive NFT template library built entirely on Metaplex, simplifying production-ready deployments for collections, marketplaces, and cNFTs.

• dubdub integrated Token Metadata, enabling creators to monetize influence and launch memecoins.

• Verxio introduced autonomous, AI-enhanced loyalty passes powered by Metaplex Core’s Asset Signers, enabling onchain agents to earn, evolve, and act independently.

Creator Ecosystem 

June continued to drive momentum across Solana’s creator economy, with new partnerships, entertainment expansions, gaming integrations, and large-scale collectible campaigns—all powered by Metaplex infrastructure.

• Phygitals announced an airdrop of 100,000+ Pokémon cards to major communities on Solana and Ethereum, powered by Metaplex, Solana, Privy, Tensor, and Crossmint.

• Claynosaurz partnered with Mediawan Kids & Family to bring their NFT universe to global television audiences, aiming to turn Claynosaurz into an animated franchise.

• Player2 launched their 'Players' NFT collection, expanding the Play Solana ecosystem with new collectibles tied to PSG1 gaming hardware.

• The BonkGames launched their survival game ecosystem, using Metaplex standards for NFT login, multiplayer architecture, and collectible-powered gameplay. The project integrates with Play Solana’s PSG1 console and leverages Bonk and Colosseum partnerships.

Follow @metaplex on X for ongoing community updates. You can also subscribe to receive these monthly updates directly to your email here. To contribute to the Metaplex protocol, engage with us on GitHub or submit a Metaplex Improvement Proposal (MIP) at mip.metaplex.com.

Last, thanks to TopLedger for their data support on this month’s round-up. They provide real-time monitoring of Metaplex activity and usage to the ecosystem. For additional Metaplex onchain metrics, please refer to the following link.