ICYMI - Last week in crypto: A recap of the Good News
Seriously, huge **** you, Mr BankMan Fried.
It's been a horrible week in CEX talk as FTX’s monumental collapse dominated news headlines, eclipsing all of the good things that happened in Web3 and the Metaverse. We choose not to report on his despicable deeds and how millions worldwide are feeling their ripple effects. Instead, we will promote the hard workers, the builders, and the dozens of degens determined to do good with the technology of decentralization. May your days be long.
Last week, OpenSea made a bold statement on the NFT royalties debate as they announced an on-chain enforcement tool for creators, Magic Eden's CEO Jack Lu further admits that royalty enforcing NFTs are soon to be the 'new asset class' and metaverse project Upland announced a partnership with the FIFA World Cup 2022 ™.
Thanks for reading!
OpenSea releases on-chain tool to enforce NFT royalties
OpenSea, the most popular non-fungible (NFT) marketplace, appears to have weighed in on the NFT royalties dispute, unveiling a new "on-chain" tool to assist creators in enforcing royalties.
The NFT marketplace, which, according to CoinGecko, controls 66% of the funds in NFT markets, has remained largely mute on the matter of royalties and enforcement, while others in the field have been implementing their own techniques in recent months.
In a blog post published on November 6, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer stated that in markets where payments are optional, they've "seen the voluntary creator fee payment rate shrink to less than 20%," while in others, creator fees are "just not paid at all."
The CEO of OpenSea announced the creation of a new tool that will allow producers to provide "on-chain enforcement" of their royalties.
"There’s been a lot of discussion over the past few months about business models for NFT creators & whether creator fees (“royalties”) are viable.
Given our role in the ecosystem, we want to take a thoughtful, principled approach to this topic & to lead w/ solutions."
— OpenSea (@OpenSea) shared via a tweet on November 6.
The solution, according to Finzer, is a "simple code snippet" that allows creators to enforce royalties on new and future NFT collection smart contracts, as well as existing upgradeable smart contracts. In addition, the code will limit NFT sales to just markets that charge creator fees.
"It’s clear that many creators want the ability to enforce fees on-chain; and fundamentally, we believe that the choice should be theirs to make — it shouldn’t be a decision made for them by marketplaces,” Finzer said.
Finzer further declared that OpenSea will now use the on-chain enforcement tool to enforce royalties for new collections, but will not do so for new collections that do not opt-in.
In an accompanying Twitter Spaces, Finzer stressed that OpenSea is "not requiring folks to use our specific solution," and that authors can use "whatever solution you choose and implement it anyway."
"We provide a template GitHub repo that helps you use a solution that basically blocks lists marketplace that doesn’t support creator fees, you don't have to use that solution; the requirement is that if you want creator fees, you have to enforce them on chain.”
“To the best of our knowledge, the only way to achieve on-chain creator fee enforcement for existing collections with non-upgradeable smart contracts is to take drastic measures with their communities, like shifting the canonical collection to a new smart contract,” Finzer said.
“In our opinion, by far the better option is for existing creators to explore new forms of monetization and alternative ways of incentivizing buyers and sellers to pay creator fees, and to ensure that future collections enforce creator fees on-chain,” he added.
Finzer suggests possibilities including enabling optional creator fees, continuing to enforce off-chain payments for select subsets of collections, and working together on further on-chain enforcement options for creators.
However, the tool will not be available for existing NFT collections in the meantime due to a few challenges in implementation.
Twitter users and NFT creators' reactions have been conflicted since the announcement. "I don't fundamentally agree with the abolition of royalties, I do respect its implementation," Wab.eth, creator of the Sappy Seals NFT collection and co-founder of The Pixlverse and Pixl Labs, told their almost 60,000 followers.
Some users in the NFT community felt that their questions had not been addressed. "It feels like there is no plan and no clear answers were given in relation to existing collections & artist's royalties," Betty, the alias of one of the Deadfellaz NFT collection founders, said to their 89,000 followers.
Nevertheless, they remarked afterwards that "I look forward to receiving more concrete communication from them soon in regards to proposed strategies."
Magic Eden CEO admits royalty enforcing NFTs set to be the 'new asset class'
Jack Lu, the CEO of Solana-based non-fungible token (NFT) exchange Magic Eden, proposed the concept of NFTs that are designed to impose royalties.
In a speech delivered on November 5 at Solana's Breakpoint 2022 conference, Lu predicted that these NFTs could "give rise to a new asset class" as the industry wrestles with the controversy surrounding opt-in royalties.
There is "no mechanism" to enforce royalties with the "current design," he continued, adding that "creators require a sustainable revenue model." He went on to say that while there are "many new ideas that could be made available to them," royalties are not one of those models.
“There is a real opportunity to give rise to a new asset class, and this asset class will have special properties but also have special trade-offs. So it could enforce royalties at a technological high technological level.” - Jack Lu said at the Solana Breakpoint conference.
Magic Eden spoke with "dozens, if not 100" NFT creators over the course of the previous months about various NFT use cases, and they discovered that their needs "really are very, very divergent:"
NFT creators would have "some amount of control" as a result of those "trade-offs," according to Lu, but in conversations Magic Eden had with creators and holders, Lu said that they were "ready to accept some of these trade-offs" to make sure that they could implement their business models.
Lu claims that Magic Eden will introduce an asset "this week" in collaboration with Cardinal, a system that permits NFT conditional ownership, and the privacy-focused browser Brave that can impose royalties.
Metaverse Community Upland announces FIFA World Cup 2022 partnership with real-world utility
Upland, a metaverse community with 3M users, announced the inclusion of utilities and a partnership with FIFA World Cup 2022™.
FIFA and Upland are actively collaborating to develop gamified experiences that will enable community members to connect in support of their preferred national teams. A realistic copy of the Lusail Stadium is now being built by Upland for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, replete with branded villages, showrooms, and shops that spectators can visit digitally in the metaverse. Additionally, there will be collectible FIFA-branded NFTs available, including necessities, passes, souvenirs, and spotlights, allowing users to truly "own their colors."
Upland is allowing fans to start their metaverse adventure in connection with the live event by buying and exchanging digital homes, each of which is based on a real-world address that exists in one of 22 eligible locales. Similar to the real world, these properties will appreciate as users add structures and customize them to their tastes.
Thanks to this new partnership, users can show their support for the FIFA World Cup 2022™ by decorating their properties with collectible flags and other national symbols. Additionally, Upland has set aside properties marked FSA for The Fair Start Act that let newer players to buy at a discounted price.
The platform aspires to add value beyond just proving a strong affinity for the sports world. Fans are permitted to set up shops on metaverse domains where they can sell items they have acquired and amassed in addition to displaying them. This gives new users the chance to get a feel for the business side of the metaverse.
The chance to win one-of-a-kind items, such as a metaverse duplicate of the Official FIFA World Cup Stadium and other properties like the legendary FIFA World Cup Village, is another benefit for participants.
Web3 Gaming Company Kryptomon Partners with Unstoppable Domains
Kryptomon, a developer of the living-NFT-powered metaverse game combining Play-and-Earn gaming feature announced a partnership with the #1 Web3 domain registrar, Unstoppable Domains last weekend.
With the help of an exclusive collaboration between the two companies, Kryptomon NFT owners will receive a special verification badge to display on their Unstoppable Domains profile. A $50 credit for Unstoppable Domains will also be given to each Kryptomon NFT holder so they may protect their Web3 identity.
“Web3 domains open up exciting possibilities for gaming, giving gamers a single identity they can use to showcase their achievements, get rewarded, and more,” said Sandy Carter, SVP and Channel Chief, Unstoppable Domains. “We’re excited to team up with Kryptomom to give gamers more ways to rep their achievements on Web3.”
Umberto Canessa Cerchi, CEO of The Kryptomon Company, acknowledged the new partnership saying: “We are excited to partner with Unstoppable Domains, the leading Web3 domain provider in the world, to provide our users with exclusive features to ease their use of our games and enhance their gaming experience, and we are looking forward to have a fruitful partnership for both parties for the benefit of both our users.”
In order to streamline the login and onboarding of new players, the firms are also working together to include a special Unstoppable Domains login mechanism (SSO) into the Kryptomon games. Additionally, The Kryptomon Company and Unstoppable Domains are investigating the possibility of allowing their users to buy exclusive NFT domains with the suffixes ".kryptomon" and ".kmon" in the future.
Owners of Kryptomon NFT can use the $50 gift certificate from Unstoppable Domains on the business' website after receiving it via email. There can be only one use per code. Users who don't already have an Unstoppable Domains account will be prompted to do so. Users can immediately utilize the store credit to purchase domains if they already have an account.
On Kryptomon's official website, Kryptomon NFT holders will soon be able to begin redeeming their $50 Unstoppable Domain gift cards.
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