OpenSea’s Controversial Decision: “They’re Making a Big Mistake”

Weekly NFT trading volume, which at its peak was over $3 billion, has recently fallen below $100 million. The declining volumes are pushing the NFT markets in a downward race. To this table is added an important decision taken by OpenSea the previous day, which caused a huge backlash from the community.

royalty fee will be optional

OpenSea announced on Thursday that it will now optionally apply royalties. Until now, NFT artists were getting a 2.5 per cent share of the fee on each sale. From August 31, these charges will be optional for new collections. The system will be implemented after February 29, 2024, for existing collections. Thus, the collector who buys the NFT will decide whether or not to give the artist a share in the next sale.

As the transaction volume in the NFT market declines and interest declines, markets reduce transaction fees as well as remove royalties to attract users. While imposing a minimum royalty fee of 0.5 percent compared to OpenSea’s 2.5 percent, Blur outperformed OpenSea in terms of transaction volume. Eight months back, another marketplace X2Y2 also launched a new model with zero royalty.

OpenSea CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer (pictured) has previously argued that royalties are necessary to protect artists’ rights. The statement was also made by Finzer that the platform would reset these charges.

“OpenSea Is Making a Big Mistake”

OpenSea’s decision caused widespread public backlash and the platform was accused of destroying the ecosystem. “OpenSea is making a huge mistake by not charging and paying royalties from NFT sales,” said noted billionaire Mark Cuban, one of OpenSea’s investors. commented on And emphasized that he was saying this as an OpenSea investor.

Protest move by Yuga Labs

On the other hand, Yuga Labs, the developer of popular NFT projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and OtherSide, took a step to oppose OpenSea’s decision. Manufactured by Yug Labs in statementannounced that it would end support for OpenSea for all updatable contracts and all new collections. The company earned $148 million in royalties from NFT sales in 2022.

Ultimately, there were people who rated the responses on OpenSea. Rival marketplace ReRible showed solidarity with creators and artists on Friday with the hashtag #StandForRoyalties.