Historical retrospective · NFTs
NFT marketplaces turned royalties into a platform-policy question
As NFT trading expanded, marketplaces differed on whether creator royalties should be mandatory, optional or enforced through contract design.
ERC-2981 offered a standard signal, but marketplace practices determined whether secondary-sale payments actually occurred.
The debate exposed the gap between an on-chain interface and business rules applied by off-chain platforms.
Creators should not assume that royalty metadata guarantees payment; marketplace terms and enforcement mechanisms are decisive.
Primary source
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