Magic Eden Defends Launch Of NFT Royalty Enforcement Tool

Magic Eden, a Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, has faced some community reaction with the release of MetaShield, a new enforcement tool intended at discouraging NFT buyers who avoid paying creator royalties.

iexclusivenews reports that following its September 12 launch, MetaShield, which was reportedly launched in partnership with NFT marketplace and aggregator Coral Cube, received mixed reactions from the NFT community.

Which was divided on whether NFT marketplaces should protect creator rights or cut royalty fees to make NFTs cheaper for collectors.

The NFT royalty enforcement tool is intended to assist NFT creators to identify and blur NFTs that may have been sold without avoiding creator payments.

On September 14, Magic Eden defended its new tool in an eight-part Twitter thread, stating that some of the “hardest working creators today” are being “punished” by “custom” royalty marketplaces.

The new tool was released just a few weeks after NFT marketplace X2Y2 unveiled a new feature that allows purchasers to choose whether or not to pay a royalty charge (and, if so, how much) when purchasing an NFT.

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Magic Eden, in its most recent discussion, clarified that MetaShield was created to protect authors rather than punish purchasers.

“Most people recognize that zero royalty marketplaces for all creators shouldn’t become the ecosystem norm,” argued Magic Eden.

“What we do is an experiment, collaborate, and ship. MetaShield might not be perfect, but it provides an option to creators in this debate.”

The NFT marketplace also affirmed that it will not take control of NFTs and that the royalty enforcement mechanism will not be used to penalize buyers.

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MetaShield was created to allow authors to “monitor Solana NFTs listed with unique royalties” and “take action where they deem fit” to safeguard their brand, according to Magic Eden.

According to the Magic Eden website, NFT authors are given “Editor” privileges to conceal their work.

Allowing them to change the royalties, add a watermark, or blur the image.

Once the debt is paid, the Editor can restore the NFT to its original state.

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What People is Saying

The launch of Magic Eden’s MetaShield was initially met with mixed reactions from the community.

One Twitter user claimed the addition of MetaShield further centralized the Magic Eden NFT marketplace, while another Twitter user said no one will mint NFTs if the creators use MetaShield.

Another Twitter user said they were concerned that innocent buyers will be punished as they’ll have their newly purchased NFT shielded, stating:

“The biggest concern I have is that this punishes the buyer — someone who might not know they purchased incorrectly. After a certain period of time, the NFT will all of a sudden be ‘shielded.’

This will lead to an experience where they need to pay a lot more.

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However, many have also praised Magic Eden for “protecting” NFT creators.

Not every NFT marketplace has sided with Magic Eden. “sudoswap” decided not to adopt the royalty fee model to make its NFT platform more buyer-friendly by only subjecting them to standard platform fees.

Furthermore, Langston Thomas of “nft now” stated that even when smart contracts are in place to pay creators royalties. It is ultimately up to the NFT marketplace to honor the royalty arrangement.

However, iexclusivenews Nigeria reports that this is because the NFT marketplace obtains the royalty first through the transaction and is not required to pass it on.