Yuga Labs To Block OpenSea After NFT Marketplace Abandons Royalty Enforcement

Yuga Labs, creators of the popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), will remove support for OpenSea's Seaport protocol from February 2024.

The move comes after OpenSea's decision to disable mandatory royalties for existing collections. Yuga Labs' collections comprise nearly $5 billion in all-time traded value on OpenSea, with BAYC alone generating $2 billion.

Since inception, Yuga collections have contributed over $100M to OpenSea’s coffers, according to NFTstats.eth.

The floor prices of Yuga projects have been battered over the past week, with BAYC, MAYC and BAKC falling 20%, 22% and 29% respectively. Bored Apes haven’t traded under 23 ETH since August 2021.

OpenSea Abandons Royalty Enforcement

Last week, OpenSea, the second-largest NFT marketplace by volume, said that it is scrapping its Operator Filter, an on-chain royalties enforcement tool, from Aug. 31. Existing collections will see royalties enforced until Feb. 29, 2024.

"To be clear, creator fees aren’t going away – simply the ineffective, unilateral enforcement of them." OpenSea CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer said.

Prominent OpenSea investor Mark Cuban criticized the move, saying, "Not collecting and paying royalties on NFT sales is a HUGE mistake by OpenSea. It diminished trust in the platform and hurts the industry."

OpenSea Pro Fees

The company has also amended OpenSea Pro's fee structure to levy a 0.5% fee on listings and offers on its platform from Aug 31.

Currently, the 0.5% listing fee is applicable only in instances where either the creator royalty is set to below 0.5%, or if the collection does not meet certain thresholds.

Given that OpenSea Pro is geared towards active traders, this move has the potential to drive users to Blur, which continues to offer fee-less trading.