A coalition of prominent Web3 firms, OMA3 (Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3), has established a dedicated team to explore standardization solutions for creator royalties on non-fungible token (NFT) platforms, ensuring their permanence.
In a recent tweet,
The alliance stated, “OMA3 is championing the rights of NFT creators by safeguarding their royalties, with endorsements from Magic Eden, Yuga Labs, Animoca Brands, among our other esteemed members. We invite the NFT community to become a part of OMA3 and bolster our initiatives.”
According to Decrypt, this newly formed team is set to concentrate on the preservation of creator royalties, potentially by setting unified guidelines for all NFT trading platforms.
Endangered Fees
Royalties for creators are additional charges on NFTs’ secondary sales, meant to benefit the creators rather than the platforms.
Yet, in what appears to be a response to the ongoing downturn in the crypto market, several marketplaces began eliminating these fees.
This trend seemed to gain traction after Blur adopted the approach, prompting others to do the same.
In August, OpenSea announced its decision to phase out the Operator Filter for upcoming collections. This filter previously acted as a mechanism to uphold creator royalties. However, for current NFT collections, the commitment to enforce royalties will remain in place until February 29, 2024.
Blur has now emerged as the leading NFT marketplace in terms of volume, overtaking OpenSea, as per data from DappRadar.
In the past 24 hours, Blur’s trading volume reached $4.5 million, and its monthly volume stands at $125 million. Meanwhile, OpenSea reported a 24-hour volume of $1.58 million and a 30-day volume of $58 million.
Following OpenSea’s recent announcement, Yuga Labs declared its intent to discontinue support for OpenSea concerning all upgradable contracts and forthcoming collections.
Highlighting the significance of creator royalties, Robby Yung, the CEO of Animoca Brands, shared with Decrypt:
“Creator royalties are not merely about upholding the fairness doctrine or recognizing the contributions of creators. They are crucial for interoperability. Why would creators want to disseminate their content to others if they can’t profit from future royalty revenues? Without such incentives, we might as well revert to the Web2 paradigm where content sharing is limited.”
Decentralized, Community-run Open Metaverse
OMA3’s website mentions an NFT working group, with Alfred Tom, the co-founder and CEO of Wivity, serving as its Acting Chair.
The NFT Working Group (NFTWG) is actively involved in crafting strategies that enhance the performance, user-friendliness, and security of NFTs. Additionally, the group is keen on devising specifications and forming solutions specifically for NFT royalties.
Their objectives also encompass streamlining NFT licensing, strategizing ways to curb NFT-related fraudulent activities, and proposing optimal methods for the creation, acquisition, and utilization of NFTs.
OMA3, as stated on their website, functions as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). It acts as a collective of Web3 metaverse developers that includes well-known entities such as The Sandbox, Animoca Brands, Alien Worlds, Dapper Labs, Decentraland, MetaMetaverse, Space, SuperWorld, Upland, Voxels, Unstoppable Domains, and Wivity.
Recently, Astea joined this consortium, marking the latest addition to the group.
The overarching objective of the consortium is to create an infrastructure that guarantees the metaverse works as a cohesive entity. Within this framework, digital assets—ranging from NFTs to identities and data—are designed to be permissionless and interoperable. The control of these assets rests with the users, ensuring that platforms don’t dictate terms.
