in a nutshell
- OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer spoke with Decrypt about recent developments around creator royalties on the NFT Marketplace.
- The company said it would continue to enforce its set royalties on all projects even after competing marketplaces made such fees optional for traders.
As a leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea’s policy is very important. $13.3 billion startup‘s stance on creator royalties.But when OpenSea finally spoke out on the matter, the comment was I just created more questionsinvites backlash from creators.
OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer said: Decryption The company analyzed market data and spoke with creators ahead of the announcement, and said it hoped to have more dialogue with the NFT community. Finzer said his team was “surprised” by the level of backlash. He attributed this to “the ambiguity of how existing collections were handled”.
“Our goal there was to start a dialogue with the creators, and in many ways, I think we really did,” Finser said. “A lot of people came out very actively and offered their perspectives.
OpenSea has long respected secondary sales fees set by creators, although they cannot be fully enforced on-chain.But in recent months, rival platforms have lost royalties It’s flipping the NFT space and throwing curveballs at creators in the name of cheap trading for traders. Cope with falling prices and demand.
November 5, open sea said We are considering options and plan to continue discussions with the NFT community. ethereum The NFT Project will block marketplaces that do not fully respect royalties. However, OpenSea has raised the possibility of making creator fees an option for traders for existing projects.
It didn’t work out for many creators.of Boad Ape Yacht Club Founder Called Plan for OpenSea “not good” dead fellers collaborator Betty said The company’s communication with her was “misleading” and “the facts are not there”. Streetwear brand The Hundreds Canceled planned NFT drop on the platform.
OpenSea was supposed to make a decision by December 8, but instead took action within days. On November 9, the company Continue to enforce royalties on creators In all existing NFT projects, Pointed out in the tweet thread Hearing community feedback “loud and clear”.
Creators and many collectors applauded OpenSea’s move, but it wasn’t a clear business decision for the company. The company believes royalties (usually a 5% to 10% commission paid by the seller and deducted from the secondary sale price) are important to the industry, but some traders say they avoid them. We are using cryptocurrencies on our platform to vote and cut into OpenSea’s marketplace. share.
In deciding how to ultimately proceed with the royalty issue, Finzer said: Decryption Maintaining trust with creators is essential, and developing new on-chain execution models for blocking specific markets was part of that thinking.
Already, the OpenSea movement is making waves. On Friday, competing marketplace X2Y2 Respect creator loyalty on all projects, citing OpenSea’s “brave move”. As a result, OpenSea has removed X2Y2 from its blocklist. This means that NFTs for projects using this tool can now be traded on that market.
“This shows that leadership in this area can really drive better systems and better technology,” says Finzer. Decryption“And if you lead with solutions, people will follow and support them.”
He said that the initial blocklist is a representation of “v0” and that there is room for improvement, such as working with the community to decentralize management of listings on royalty-denying marketplaces. According to Finzer, the real ambition is to eventually have an empty blocklist. Other marketplaces besides X2Y2 should follow his OpenSea precedent.
“I want my blocklist to be zero,” Finzer asserted.
