In this week’s newsletter, read about how the FTX contagion led to the sale of a collection containing high-ticket nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Check out the struggles in onboarding artists to Web3 through NFTs and find out about OpenSea’s decision to finally enforce royalties on all collections within its NFT marketplace. In other news, a tool that allows layer-2 networks to showcase NFTs on social platforms like Twitter was released. And don’t forget this week’s Nifty News featuring Nike’s Dot Swoosh NFT platform. FTX contagion victim Deepak.eth puts NFT collection up for sale After announcing an eight-figure exposure to FTX exchange, …

NFT marketplace OpenSea has announced it will continue to enforce royalties across all collections going forward, following outcry from creators earlier this week for considering otherwise. On Nov. 7 OpenSea announced they were launching an on-chain tool allowing creators to enforce royalties for any new collections on the platform, but stopped short of offering the same to existing collections. At the time, the marketplace said it would be considering options ranging from enforcing off-chain fees for “some subsets of collections,” to “allowing optional creator fees,” to “collaborating with other on-chain enforcement options for creators.” The announcement saw significant pushback from …

The founder of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has weighed in on the ongoing non-fungible token (NFT) creator royalties debate and shared a potential path forward that they believe best deals with the issue. A Nov. 8 blog post from BAYC co-founder Wylie Aronow — co-signed by co-founders Greg Solano and Kerem Atalay — shared that they regard creator royalties as “the single most important factor that brought them [creators and artists] into the ecosystem.” The post was in response to OpenSea’s Nov. 6 announcement that it would follow other NFT marketplaces on royalty enforcement which Aronow said shows its …

Royalty enforcing NFTs to be a ‘new asset class’: Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu, the CEO of Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden has floated the idea of NFTs designed to enforce royalties. Lu said in an address at Solana’s Breakpoint 2022 conference on Nov. 5 that these NFTs could “give rise to a new asset class” as the space grapples with the debate around opt-in royalties. He added that “creators need a sustained revenue model” and while royalties were one of those models there is “no way” to enforce them with the “current design” but added there are …

Nonfungible (NFT) marketplace OpenSea appears to have taken a position in the NFT royalties debate — launching a new "on-chain" tool helping creators enforce royalties. The NFT marketplace, which according to CoinGecko commands 66% of the market share in NFT marketplaces been relatively silent on the issue of royalties and enforcement while others in the space have been implementing their own strategies over the last few months. In a Nov. 6 blog post, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer noted that in marketplaces where fees are optional, they’ve “watched the voluntary creator fee payment rate dwindle to less than 20%”, while in …

Early in 2021, markets for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) started to gain some notoriety, and by the end of March 2021, this new market for digital assets had a total lifetime traded volume of about $550 million. Any digital asset can be an NFT including collectibles, artwork, video game characters, virtual world objects and digitized sports. A blockchain, often one on the Ethereum network, is where an NFT’s ownership is recorded. However, the sale of this digital asset will result in ownership transfers and the blockchain recording of the crypto payment received. This isn’t to say that NFTs and cryptocurrencies are …

Social media platform Instagram is set to introduce a number of nonfungible token (NFT)-related tools that will allow creators to mint, show and sel NFTs. Instagram parent company Meta said on Nov. 2 during its Creator Week 2022 event that the platform would allow its creators to make “digital collectibles” and sell them “both on and off Instagram.” Meta says creators will have an “end-to-end toolkit” from creating, showing, then selling NFTs within the platform and has chosen the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain as an initial partner for this functionality. It says a “small group” of United States-based creators will be …

NFT marketplace says no to optional royalties While nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces such as Ethereum (ETH)-based X2Y2, LooksRare, and Solana (SOL)-based Magic Eden have made the switch over to “optional” creator royalties, a newly launched marketplace is taking a hard stand against it. Find Satoshi Lab, the company behind the popular move-to-earn app StepN has launched its new NFT marketplace named MOOAR on Nov. 1, notably featuring “no optional royalties.” Instead, its NFT royalty policy will be set to a default of 2% but allows creators to set royalties between 0.5% to 10%. There is no option for 0% royalties, …

The nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace for American video game retailer GameStop has officially gone live on Ethereum (ETH) layer 2 blockchain ImmutableX, all part of the latest Web3 push from the gaming retailer. The pair first partnered in February to build the marketplace offering a $100 million grant for NFT content creators and tech developers before a public beta of the NFT marketplace debuted in July. With the Oct. 31 announcement of the full launch, GameStop’s market will allow for popular Web3 games on ImmutableX such as the role-playing game Illuvium and Gods Unchained to be accessed by users. Gamestop …

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace LooksRare is the latest in a string of NFT markets to do away with enforcing creator royalties by default following the likes of Magic Eden and X2Y2. The platform tweeted on Oct. 27 that it would not be supporting creator royalties by default, instead choosing to share 25% of its protocol fees with NFT creators and collection owners. Buyers can still choose to pay royalties when purchasing an NFT but will be on an opt-in basis. Explaining the changes, it said 0.5% of its 2% protocol fee would go to collections, as long as that collection …

The popular messaging app Telegram announced on Oct. 26 the official launch of its new marketplace built on the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain. The marketplace will serve as an auction platform on which rare Telegram handles will be up for grabs. Initially, the idea was mentioned back in August on app founder Pavel Durov’s Telegram channel after the TON Foundation successfully auctioned off TON DNS domains. Telegram will start with auctions of four and five-letter handles, with this being the first time shorter handles will be made available to all users. The auction will last a week with a …

Opensea’s dominance begins to waiver Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea has seen its competitors chomping at its ankles this year as they gain market share — turning the market from a “monopoly” into an “oligopoly," a new report states. Binance Market Pulse released on Oct. 20 says there has been a slow and steady change in market leadership, noting that while OpenSea is still the dominant marketplace in terms of users and volume, Ethereum (ETH)-based exchanges X2Y2 and Looksrare have been gaining their share of the market over 2022. The report also pointed out that OpenSea is facing stiff competition …