OpenSea Makes Waves: Says Creator Royalties Will Be Enforced

Leading non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea said Wednesday it is standing by creators and continuing to enforce royalties on the platform.

The platform shared a Twitter thread explaining its stance to continue supporting creators through mandating royalties. It shared that since October 12th, the average percentage of fees received by the top 20 NFT collections dropped from 77% to 56%.

“Unless something changes soon, this space is trending toward significantly fewer fees paid to creators,” said OpenSea in a tweet.

As the leading NFT marketplace in terms of trading volume, according to data from Dappradar, there’s been speculation around OpenSea’s decision: Will they continue to support creators in earning royalties on their work or nix these payment requirements? Since August, NFT marketplaces X2Y2,Magic Eden and LooksRare have altered their royalty structures, no longer obligating buyers to pay royalties or contribute to creators.

There’s also been active community pushback, urging OpenSea to clarify its stance. On Monday, 19-year old NFT artist Victor Langlois, who goes by FEWOCiOUS, wrote a letter on Twitter to OpenSea, asking the platform to stand with creators.

“Royalties were the reason the art community flocked to NFTs in the first place,” said Langlois. “[Removing royalties] is backward progress for artists and the community at large.”