Sorare, a blockchain-based fantasy sports game where fans can collect NFT player cards, is changing houses again, this time migrating from StarkEx to Layer 1 chain Solana.
In an announcement on October 8, Sorare described the migration of StarkEx, an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution, as “more than a technical upgrade,” calling it a “step forward in our vision to become the most open and flexible platform for digital sports collectibles.”
In the migration FAQ section, Sorare explained that it is moving to Solana to connect Sorare cards “to a broader ecosystem,” including the ability to manage the NFTs on popular Solana wallets like Phantom. The team also hinted at a possible Sorare ecosystem token in the future, as part of its long-term vision:
“Long term, we’ll explore every opportunity before us: partnering with other communities, unlocking new forms of gameplay and usability, and potentially expanding our own ecosystem powered by a Sorare token.”
While the announcement provided no further details as to why Sorare chose to move to Solana, commentators on X have suggested that Sorare was paid an eight-figure sum to make the move. The Defiant has reached out to Sorare and Solana for comment but has not heard back as of press time.
Founded in 2019 by Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort, Sorare started with Ethereum and switched to L2 StarkEx, the application-specific scaling engine from Starknet developer StarkWare, in mid-2021 to reduce gas costs. That same year, the company raised a $680 million Series B, valuing it at approximately $4.3 billion.
Migration details
As part of the migration, which begins this month, Sorare said that users’ ETH balances currently on StarkEx will migrate to Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2, to “improve transaction efficiency while keeping the experience familiar.”
By the end of October, Sorare cards will be bridged as Solana NFTs while retaining all card attributes such as scarcity, serial number, season, XP and metadata, the blog post said. The team also said that Sorare will cover all gas costs for the migration, specifying that users “will not sign any transactions or spend crypto during the migration.”
Sorare also added that once the migration is complete, cards withdrawn to Ethereum wallets will “still work in gameplay, but cannot be traded on Sorare until re-deposited or bridged to Solana,” while NFTs remaining on StarkEx will be bridged to Solana.
Are NFTs back?
NFT trading volume and number of sales. Source: DappRadar
Sorare’s migration comes as total NFT sales have reached their highest level since 2022, according to data from blockchain analytics platform DappRadar.
In a research post on Thursday, DappRadar wrote that the market recorded more than 18.1 million NFTs sold in the third quarter, generating $1.6 billion in trading volume, adding that “one of the leading dapps” on this playing field is Sorare, which is responsible for “millions in trading volume, selling hundreds of thousands of digital cards to players and collectors around the world.”
Earlier today, Larva Labs, the makers of CryptoPunks, Autoglyphs, and Meebits, completed the Art Blocks curated series with a new collection, Quine, with sales ending at 7.56 ETH, or $31,000 per Quine NFT.