The NFT Marketplace OpenSea, is set to terminate its royalty enforcement tool known as Operator Filter. This tool enabled creators to blacklist NFT platforms that didn’t uphold royalty rules. The CEO of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, has confirmed that the tool will cease to function by August 31.
Introduced in November 2022, Operator Filter was created as a simple code snippet. Its purpose was to restrict NFT sales to platforms that enforced creator fees. However, the tool fell short of the expected traction within the NFT ecosystem.
As per Finzer, specific NFT marketplaces like Blur, Dew, and LooksRare successfully circumvented Operator Filter. They achieved this by integrating the Seaport Protocol, which allowed them to bypass OpenSea’s blacklist and avoid creator fees. In addition, creators raised concerns about the tool undermining their control over collection sales and clashing with collectors’ ideas of full ownership.
Finzer stressed that creator fees had value for certain business models, yet they represented only one of several income sources for creators. OpenSea’s roadmap focuses on enabling fresh NFT use cases, encompassing digital and physical redeemables. This approach aims to elevate primary and secondary user experiences.
Commencing on August 31, the Operator Filter will cease imposing restrictions on any marketplaces. Nonetheless, collections presently utilizing the tool and those on non-Ethereum blockchains will maintain the creator’s chosen fees until February 29, 2024.
NFT Marketplace OpenSea’s Operator Filter Removal Sparks Debate Over NFT Royalties and Market Direction
Finzer clarified that creator fees would continue, but the unproductive and one-sided enforcement of these fees would come to an end.
The choice to remove Operator Filter has led to discussions in the NFT community. Some are disappointed, believing collectors should support NFT creators on platforms with royalty requirements. However, a Reddit avatar artist finds the decision reasonable. They suggest the prior business model seemed to focus excessively on profiting from speculative trading.
In conclusion, OpenSea’s discontinuation of the Operator Filter tool has sparked mixed reactions, raising discussions about the balance between creator royalties and broader NFT market dynamics.
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