The nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea is retiring the enforcement of Operator Filter, an on-chain tool that permits creators to blacklist NFT marketplaces that don’t enforce royalties.
Devin Finzer, the CEO and founder of OpenSea, announced the move on August 17 and said it would go into effect on August 31.
A “simple code snippet” that could limit NFT sales to those marketplaces that imposed creator fees, the Operator Filter functionality, was initially presented in November 2022.
Finzer claimed that because the tool lacked the necessary support from the NFT ecosystem, it had not been as successful as they had intended.
In order to get over OpenSea’s blacklist and save creator costs, Finzer said that NFT marketplaces like Blur, Dew, and LooksRare had integrated the Seaport Protocol in order to get around the Operator Filter.
Finzer added that they encountered opposition from creators who felt that the tool infringed on their authority over the sale of their collections.
“We have heard from some creators that the Operator Filter limits their sense of control over where their collections are sold and at the same time may collide with a collector’s expectation of full ownership.”
Finizer added that the limitations of the operator filter are at the expense of decentralized ownership.
Finzer concluded by saying that although creator fees are valuable for some business models, they are simply one of many revenue streams accessible to artists, and there are several other use cases for NFT technology that need to be taken into account.
From August 31 to September 30, no marketplaces will be blocked by the Operator Filter. However, up until February 29, 2024, the creator’s desired fees will be compelled for any collections that use the tool and for any existing collections on non-Ethereum blockchains.
Creator fees will still remain on Opensea, and the only thing that is changing was how ineffectively and unilaterally they were being enforced.
This new development has been met with mixed feelings in the NFT space. A lot of people have expressed their dissatisfaction and also their satisfaction with this new development.
A number of NFT experts voiced dissatisfaction with OpenSea’s choice, contending that collectors should stand up for NFT artists on platforms that demand royalties and resist pressure from rivals.
Conversely, this decision, in the opinion of a Reddit avatar artist, may have been the right one because the business model didn’t focus enough on making money from hype trading, he claims.
However, there is no doubt that this move is a big blow to NFT creators who seek to make passive income from their art.
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