BAYC founders propose model for NFT creator royalties

The creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection have presented a solution for collecting royalties on secondary sales of assets, amid a trend among sector marketplaces to drop such practices.

Some thoughts on creator royaltieshttps://t.co/hKB5eQKZ93

— GordonGoner.eth (Wylie Aronow) (@GordonGoner) November 8, 2022

In a message from Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow (GordonGoner), also signed by Greg Solano (Garga), Kerem Atalay (Tomato) and 10KTF tech director Randy Chang, author royalties were described as “the most important factor that brought artists into the ecosystem.”

The post came in response to OpenSea’s recent statement about the cessation of royalties on old collections. In October the move to an optional royalty model for creators’ royalties was adopted by the largest Solana NFT marketplace, Magic Eden.

The BAYC founders called OpenSea’s move an intention to “move the whole herd” and a “bad move.”

“The NFT ecosystem would be a tiny fraction of what it is today if not for creator royalties. The leading marketplaces of the last couple of years would be nowhere if they hadn’t supported it,” they argued.

They said OpenSea earned $35 million from BAYC sales alone.

“We’ve never met its founders, but perhaps they have a beach bungalow somewhere with a memorial plaque in our honor,” the proposal’s authors quipped.

They described as important ensuring free NFT transactions between ordinary user wallets. This includes the possibility of off-exchange trades.

For marketplaces, the mechanism envisages a “permissions list” that includes only platforms that charge royalties via smart contract.

The Yuga Labs co-founders acknowledged that the community still needs to develop a mechanism to include platforms on the “whitelist” and to maintain it going forward. They called this a “solvable problem.”

“To begin with, there are only a handful of well-known good actors today. It’s easy to launch the permissions list — just add a couple of marketplaces that pay creator royalties. Done,” they said.

Famed artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, supported the idea:

“Nice work, I think this could become a great way to protect royalties. Even if implemented, the move from seller fees to buyer premiums has long been overdue.”

great work @GordonGoner !! i think this could be a great path forward to protect these royalties 💪💪💪

though i still think even if this is implemented the switch from sellers FEE to buyer’s PREMIUM is long overdue and will help a lot with compliance. 🙏🙏🙏 https://t.co/wdIXYo5yp8

— beeple (@beeple) November 8, 2022

As reported in October, NFT sales volume continued to decline. OpenSea’s metric reached $319.25 million as it fell for the fifth consecutive month, according to ForkLog’s report.

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