Key takeaways:
- Yuga Labs plans to discontinue support for OpenSea once Operator Filter, the platform’s on-chain tool for enforcing royalties, is removed.
- It’s uncertain whether Yuga Labs’ NFTs will continue to function in any way on OpenSea.
Yuga Labs, the company that created the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), plans to discontinue support for OpenSea once Operator Filter, the platform’s on-chain tool for enforcing royalties, is removed.
In November 2022, the Operator Filter was introduced, giving creators the ability to limit secondary nonfungible token (NFT) sales to markets that impose creator fees, thereby excluding Blur-like platforms.
On August 17, OpenSea said that the tool would “sunset” by the end of August due to a lack of “opt-in by the entire ecosystem,” platforms ignoring the tool, and creator backlash.
The company will eventually stop using OpenSea’s Seaport marketplace smart contract, according to a statement made by Yuga Labs CEO Daniel Alegre the day after through X (previously Twitter):
“Yuga Labs will begin the process of sunsetting support for OpenSea’s SeaPort for all upgradable contracts and any new collections, with the aim of this being complete in February 2024 in tandem with OpenSea’s approach.”
The decision does not seem to be an obvious consequence of the cancellation of the Operator Filter. Instead, Yuga Labs appears to be against OpenSea’s future stance. The business implied that the division is felt keenly by stating that it supports “protecting creator royalties so creators are properly compensated for their work.”
Members of the BAYC community responded favorably to the message, while content providers and project founders like EllioTrades and Alex Becker also welcomed the action.
Bored Ape Yacht Club, the most often traded NFT collectible on OpenSea at the moment, is one of the well-known NFT collections created by Yuga Labs. Over the course of 24 hours, the collection has raised 1,402 ETH ($2.4 million). Other collections produced by Yuga Labs include CryptoPunks, Meebits, and several Bored Ape Yacht Club offshoots, including Mutant Ape Yacht Club.
It’s uncertain whether Yuga Labs’ NFTs will continue to function in any way on OpenSea. Owners of the company’s NFTs are not permitted to sell such tokens on OpenSea or any other NFT platform; however, this was not made clear by the corporation.
