NFT marketplace OpenSea launches on-chain tool to implement NFT royalties

Nonfungible (NFT) marketplace OpenSea seems to have taken a position in the NFT royalties debate — launching a new “on-chain” tool assisting makers with supporting royalties.

The NFT marketplace, which as per CoinGecko, commands 66% of the market share in NFT marketplaces, has been moderately quiet on the issue of royalties and enforcement, while others in the space have been implementing their own strategies over the last few months.

The royalty enforcement tool just applies to new NFT collections at this stage, with a decision to be made on existing collections sometime in the future.

OpenSea launches on-chain tool

In a Nov. 6 blog post, OpenSea Chief Devin Finzer noticed that in marketplaces where fees are optional, they’ve “watched the voluntary creator fee payment rate dwindle to less than 20%,” while in different marketplaces maker charges are “simply not paid at all.”

The OpenSea CEO declared the marketplace has launched a new tool that will permit makers to deliver “on-chain enforcement” of their royalties.

Finzer depicted the tool as a “simple code snippet,” which permits makers to enforce royalties on new and future NFT collection smart agreements and existing upgradeable smart contracts. The code will likewise confine NFT sales to just marketplaces that implement maker fees.

“It’s clear that many creators want the ability to enforce fees on-chain; and fundamentally, we believe that the choice should be theirs to make — it shouldn’t be a decision made for them by marketplaces,” Finzer said.

Finzer additionally said OpenSea will enforce royalties for new collections using an on-chain enforcement tool, however, will not do as such for new collections that don’t opt-in.

Finzer explained in an accompanying Twitter Spaces that OpenSea is “not requiring folks to use our specific solution,” creators can use “whatever solution you want and implement it anyway.”

“We provide a template GitHub repo that helps you use a solution that basically blocks lists marketplace that doesn’t support creator fees, you don’t have to use that solution; the requirement is that if you want creator fees, you have to enforce them on a chain.”

The tool additionally will not be carried out for existing NFT collections for the moment because of implementation challenges.

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“To the best of our knowledge, the only way to achieve on-chain creator fee enforcement for existing collections with non-upgradeable smart contracts is to take drastic measures with their communities, like shifting the canonical collection to a new smart contract,” Finzer said.

“In our opinion, by far the better option is for existing creators to explore new forms of monetization and alternative ways of incentivizing buyers and sellers to pay creator fees, and to ensure that future collections enforce creator fees on-chain,” he added.

As per Finzer, this could incorporate options, for example, continuing to enforce off-chain fees for certain subsets of collections, permitting optional creator fees, and teaming up on other on-chain enforcement options for makers.

Reaction among the NFT maker and Twitter community has been mixed. Wab.eth, founder of the Sappy Seals NFT collection and co-founder of The Pixlverse and Pixl Labs, let their almost 60,000 followers know that while “I don’t fundamentally agree with the removal of royalties, I do appreciate this execution.”

Others users had questions they felt were not answered. Betty, the pseudonym for one of the makers of the Deadfellaz NFT collection, told their 89,000 followers, “it feels like there is no plan and no clear answers were given in regards to existing collections & artist’s royalties.”

Albeit later noted, “I look forward to reading more concrete communication from them soon in regards to proposed strategies.”