Circa Metaplex

Metaplex is Solana's decentralized NFT infrastructure aiming to create the “World’s NFT Protocol” by providing NFT communities with development tools and open standards for digital asset issuance and ownership on-chain. The protocol consists of four smart contracts that make up a “contract ecosystem”, namely: Token Metadata (attaches metadata to an NFT), Token Vault (escrows tokens in a “safety deposit box”), Auction (tracks participant activity and collects money from auction winners), and Metaplex (disburses NFTs to auction winners and handles all royalty payments).