OpenSea announces three policy changes in response to rival Blur

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OpenSea, three new measures

The largest NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace OpenSea announced three policy changes on the 18th. It responds to changes in the NFT market, such as the rise of competing marketplace Blur.

OpenSea announces the following new policies.

We’re making some big changes today:
1) OpenSea fee → 0% for a limited time
2) Moving to optional creator earnings (0.5% min) for all collections without on-chain enforcement (old & new)
3) Marketplaces with the same policies will not be blocked by the operator filter

— OpenSea (@opensea) February 17, 2023

Free OpenSea transaction fees for a limited time.
Creator revenue option without on-chain tools moved to minimum 0.5%
Marketplaces with the same policy are not blocked by filters

Competitor Blur will also be included in the “marketplace with the same policy” and will not block Blur thereafter.

Until now, OpenSea has had its own tool to block marketplaces that don’t fully enforce creator royalty settings, including Blur.

As a background, OpenSea has shown a stance of maintaining royalties since November last year, amidst the emergence of marketplaces that do not pay or reduce royalties for creators.

Royalty in the NFT market is generally the reward that comes to creators when NFTs on the NFT platform are sold secondary. Until now, it was often set at 5% to 10% of the selling price.

What are NFTs?

Abbreviation for “Non-Fungible Token”, a digital token that cannot be replaced and has a unique value. In addition to being used for exchanging “digital items” in blockchain games, it is also an epoch-making way for rights holders (creators) in the “secondary distribution market”, which was difficult to achieve with second-hand sales, as well as proof of ownership of high-priced art works. It is also attracting attention as a means of reduction.

Cryptocurrency Glossary

Market changes in the background

In its announcement, OpenSea cited market changes as the reason for the new policy. From around October 2022, “transaction volume and users began to move to the NFT marketplace, which does not fully collect creator rewards from traders,” pointing out that this trend is accelerating.

OpenSea, referring to the data of the crypto asset (virtual currency) data site DUNE, currently about 80% of the transaction volume of the entire NFT marketplace is done on a platform that does not completely pay creator royalties. explained. In addition, it is said that fee-free is progressing.

So OpenSea decided to set the royalty as low as 0.5% minimum. Creators can also set higher royalties for themselves. 0.5% royalty applies to all collections not using on-chain tools.

The on-chain tool was introduced by OpenSea last November and is for NFT creators to collect royalties. Creators can use this tool to force royalty payments. Creators can choose whether or not to use this tool.

Blur trends

Blur’s trend seems to have had a major impact on the background of this announcement. Blur today suggested that creators block their biggest competing marketplace, OpenSea, as a immediate recommendation.

Blur points out that creators who are listing on Blur and OpenSea at the same time cannot earn royalties in both markets at the same time due to OpenSea’s terms. He said “blocking OpenSea” is the best option for this problem.

Blur has also launched a policy of forcing traders to pay full royalties for NFT collections that block trading on OpenSea as an incentive. It also went on to say that the recommendation remains in effect until OpenSea changes its terms to allow creators to earn royalties on both platforms.

Just two days later, OpenSea has shown a move to respond to the call immediately.

Blur is rapidly attracting traders with airdrops of its own tokens. It has overtaken OpenSea in trading volume over the past week.