Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Metaplex has hired a new CEO and appointed an informational lath comprising some of crypto's most influential voices, setting the stage for the continued growth of the Solana-based project.

Adam Jeffries, a programmer with career stops at Google, Amazon, Citadel and Kaggle, has been appointed CEO of Metaplex Studios, the company announced Wed. Joining him is a new board of advisers that includes blockchain streaming platform Audius; CoinShares chief strategy officer Meltem Demirors; Cultur3 Capital co-founders Alex Yamashita, Mark Streeter and Rolf Hoefer; and Phantom chief product officeholder Chris Kalani. Rounding out the advisory group are Steven Irby, co-founder of Street Dreams Magazine, and Dylan Macalinao of Saber Labs.

In addition to his professional background, Jeffries was hired for his vast codebase knowledge, which includes roughly two-dozen different languages. He told Cointelegraph that his focus on the user experience through application development led him to eventually join Metaplex. He explained:

"From my feel and besides from watching the concluding decade of tech innovation, I know firsthand that in order for new technology to gain mass adoption, information technology needs to exist simple and easy to use past anybody. And then, building the right tools for people to interface with new technologies is incredibly important."

Metaplex launched on the Solana blockchain in June of this year and has since powered $385 meg worth of transactions from NFT sales. Projects such as Degen Ape Academy and Aurory generated considerable uptake during their respective NFT drops in September.

NFT sales have soared to record highs this year, quickly becoming 1 of the most talked-about industries within blockchain and cryptocurrency. Sales topped $2.5 billion in the first one-half of the year before setting a unmarried-month sales record of $four billion in August.

Despite registering impressive growth in the first iii months of operations, Metaplex trails several other leading NFT marketplaces in terms of sales volume. OpenSea remains the unmarried largest NFT platform, according to DappRadar. Axie Infinity, CryptoPunks, SuperRare and NBA Elevation Shot circular out the tiptop five NFT marketplaces.

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As a upshot of heightened demand, venture funds take been keen to back promising NFT marketplaces. Recent data from Dapper Labs showed that projects focused on tokenized sports collectibles raised nearly $i billion in the span of a week, with Sorare bookkeeping for $680 1000000.