Yuga Labs Plans to Part Ways with OpenSea NFT Marketplace Following Royalty Model Change

NFTs Opensea
Last updated:
Author
Author
Ruholamin Haqshanas
About Author

Ruholamin Haqshanas is a contributing crypto writer for CryptoNews. He is a crypto and finance journalist with over four years of experience. Ruholamin has been featured in several high-profile crypto...

Last updated:
Why Trust Cryptonews
Cryptonews has covered the cryptocurrency industry topics since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights to our readers. Our journalists and analysts have extensive experience in market analysis and blockchain technologies. We strive to maintain high editorial standards, focusing on factual accuracy and balanced reporting across all areas - from cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects to industry events, products, and technological developments. Our ongoing presence in the industry reflects our commitment to delivering relevant information in the evolving world of digital assets. Read more about Cryptonews
Ad DisclosureWe believe in full transparency with our readers. Some of our content includes affiliate links, and we may earn a commission through these partnerships. Read more
Source: AdobeStock / alexandarilich

Yuga Labs, the entity behind the popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), is set to halt support for OpenSea due to a change in the platform’s royalty model. 

In a Saturday tweet, Yuga Labs announced that it plans to wind down support for OpenSea following the upcoming removal of Operator Filter, an on-chain royalty enforcement tool. 

“Yuga Labs will begin the process of sunsetting support for OpenSea’s SeaPort for all upgradable contracts and any new collections, with the aim of this being complete in February 2024 in tandem with OpenSea’s approach,” the announcement reads. 

OpenSea introduced Operator Filter in November last year as a means for creators to ensure that secondary sales of their NFTs only occur on marketplaces that enforce creator royalties. 

This feature effectively filtered out platforms like Blur from participating in such sales. 

However, OpenSea recently announced its decision to “sunset” the tool by the end of August. 

The platform cited a lack of adoption within the ecosystem, loopholes that allowed platforms to bypass the tool, and pushback from creators as the reasons behind this move.

In response to OpenSea’s decision, Yuga Labs took to Twitter to share the company’s plan to gradually wind down its use of OpenSea’s Seaport marketplace smart contract. 

The company reiterated its commitment to protecting creator royalties, ensuring that creators are adequately compensated for their work.

BAYC Community Supports Yuga Labs Decision

The announcement from Yuga Labs was met with a positive reaction from the BAYC community, as well as content creators and founders of other notable NFT projects like EllioTrades and Alex Becker

Dotta, CEO and co-founder of the Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult NFT project, expressed support for Yuga Labs’ decision, highlighting the power of creators to shift towards marketplaces that prioritize royalty payments.

“The creators have enough power in aggregate to move to royalty paying marketplaces,” they said in a recent tweet. “Yuga leading the charge is the spark that was needed.”

Likewise, Luca Netz, the CEO of the Pudgy Penguins NFT project, seemed to indicate that his project might follow a similar course as Yuga Labs.

The issue of creator royalties has become a divisive topic within the NFT community over the past year. 

Initially, enforcing creator royalties was the norm during the NFT boom in 2021. 

However, marketplaces like Blur entered the scene in October 2022, offering zero trading fees and an optional creator royalty payment model. 

This disrupted the market and led to a decrease in trading fees and royalty percentages as platforms competed for users.

Currently, there is a clear divide within the NFT community between those who prefer the cheaper trading model offered by platforms like Blur and advocate for alternative methods of compensating creators, and those who strongly support the payment of royalties.

 

More Articles

Altcoin News
ESMA Pushes for Delisting of Non-MiCA Compliant Stablecoins, Sets Q1 2025 Deadline
Veronika Rinecker
Veronika Rinecker
2025-01-20 18:37:51
Features
What the TRUMP Token Means for the Crypto Industry
Connor Sephton
Connor Sephton
2025-01-20 17:37:29
Crypto News in numbers
editors
Authors List + 66 More
2M+
Active Monthly Users Around the World
250+
Guides and Reviews Articles
8
Years on the Market
70
International Team Authors