Law firm urges Metaplex to rethink fee sweep to avoid litigation

Law firm Burwick has advised Metaplex to revisit its fee sweep system or face the possibility of drawn-out litigation.

Burwick Law stated that Metaplex risks facing a lawsuit if it does not change its plan to move unclaimed NFT value from the resize upgrade to its DAO treasury instead of refunding it to NFT holders.

Burwick Law, a crypto-focused law firm, has called attention to Metaplex’s proposal to keep unclaimed Solana (SOL) in its treasury rather than refunding it to investors, suggesting that this could expose the platform to potential litigation.

Metaplex, an NFT protocol, discovered a technique last year to reduce the onchain storage requirements for certain NFTs.

By resizing their NFTs, holders on the Solana network can access a small amount of SOL.

In October, Metaplex announced that Metaplex Token Metadata (TM) NFT holders could complete a “resize optimization” for all TM accounts by April 25.

Metaplex will transfer any unclaimed SOL by the deadline automatically to the Metaplex DAO, but the firm has not clarified how it will use these funds.

Burwick criticized Metaplex’s plan to direct unclaimed funds to its DAO treasury instead of returning them to NFT holders.

“Many minters never received clear notice that these lamports could be swept, let alone diverted to a treasury they do not control,” Burwick said in an April 22 open letter to Metaplex and the broader Solana community.

Burwick mentioned that over 54,000 SOL tokens are at risk, while Metaplex’s website lists only 7,043 SOL as claimed.

With current market rates, over $6.5 million remains unclaimed.

Burwick noted that several NFT collectors it represents have conveyed “deep concerns“ about the plan.

In addition, Burwick criticized Metaplex’s plan for eroding trust and contravening the spirit of crypto.

“‘Code is law’ only works when the rules are clear and immutable. If a protocol can rewrite yesterday’s deal tomorrow, the promise of decentralised permanence rings hollow.”

Read also: Experts share insights on the future of compressed NFTs on Solana with Metaplex

Burwick warned that if the court finds the sweep to be unjust enrichment or in violation of consumer protection laws, victims could receive restitution.

As of now, Metaplex has not commented on Burwick’s post on X.

Metaplex may use the unclaimed SOL for DAO voting on airdrops, granting funds to ecosystem builders, or backing other initiatives.

The crypto lawyers advised Metaplex to put a hold on the plan, refund the rent directly to current NFT holders, and retain a “modest” 10% for maintaining the network.

“A 90 / 10 split protects users, preserves DAO funding, and proves that the Solana ecosystem can self‑regulate—without a courtroom.”

Burwick highlighted that other DeFi protocols have found solutions to similar issues using this method.

The lawyers pointed out that Metaplex has plenty of time to carry out this strategy and avoid litigation that could freeze funds.

“The ball is in the DAO’s court. Let’s show the world that Web3 corrects its own course and lives up to its founding principles of transparency, immutability, and fair dealing.”