OpenSea Will Enforce Royalties for Existing NFT Collections

OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace by volume, will continue to enforce creator fees on its platform for existing collections.

This means that, unlike many exchanges which have made royalties optional, the creators of NFT collections already trading on OpenSea will be able to continue to collect royalties on trades.

The move comes after the exchange announced on Saturday that it would only collect royalties on new collections that include code which blacklists the sale of the NFTs on competing marketplaces which don’t enforce fees.

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The Defiant

Many in the NFT space are overjoyed by OpenSea’s choice. “Some light in the darkness,” tweeted Farokh Samad, an NFT influencer.

OpenSea’s decision comes at a time when collectors are increasingly selling top NFT collections on exchanges which offer fee-less trading so as to maximize their profits. This has cut into OpenSea’s revenue, which comes from the 2.5% fee it charges on trade.

And of course, weekly NFT volumes are down over 90% from their peak in the first quarter.

Weekly NFT Volumes. Source: Dune

So, the marketplace’s choice to forgo revenue in the short term by continuing to allow creators to collect royalties is earning OpenSea significant goodwill.

New collections still need to implement code which blacklists all exchanges which don’t support royalties if they wish to list their assets on OpenSea with creator fees enforced.