Nifty gateway to release open source royalty enforcement tool

Nifty Gateway is sharing a proposal with an open-source code to enable NFT creators to prevent sales on marketplaces that do not enforce royalties. A community council will also oversee an on-chain blocklist of such marketplaces.

Nifty gateway to bar royalty-free sales of NFTs 

Popular US-based NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway has announced the upcoming release of an on-chain tool to enable NFT creators to prevent their art sales on marketplaces that remove creator royalties. In a Twitter thread released yesterday 7th of November, Nifty Gateway also unveiled a coalition to manage NFT marketplaces.

Yesterday, Nifty Gateway revealed plans to step into the creators’ royalties wars by promising to release open-source code that will help creators restrict marketplaces from trading their NFTs. In a series of tweets tagged, The Creator Royalty Standard & Coalition, Nifty Gateway wrote:

“Over the next few days, we will be sharing a proposal with an open source code that allows creators to prevent their art from being sold on marketplaces that try to remove royalties.“

In its unveiling post, Nifty Gateway also announced that it was forming a Creator Royalty Coalition, a decentralized community comprised of NFT owners and advocates who monitor selected NFT marketplaces to ensure compliance. Nifty Gateway, in a statement, said:

“In addition to this standard, we are forming the Creator Royalty Coalition – an independent decentralized community council that will manage and maintain the list of marketplaces that will be referenced in the standard.”

The creator royalty standard

In the past few weeks, several crypto firms and projects have made moves toward enforcing NFT Creator Royalties, the most recent is that of Nifty Gateway. As one of the leading virtual NFT auction platforms, Nifty Gateway has revealed its stance and plans on creator royalties. The platform stated:

“We believe NFT royalties are one of the greatest pro-creator innovations of this century, and we are proud to enforce royalties on our marketplace.”

With Nifty Gateway’s new Royalty Standard, NFT creators can prevent marketplaces that do not enforce royalties from selling their art. According to the tech firm, this is best-done on-chain as “Blockchain technology gives us a unique and powerful mechanism to help ensure creators get paid the royalties they are owed.” Although it is not yet possible to ensure marketplaces enforce royalties, Nifty Gateway seeks to prevent transactions on marketplaces that circumvent creator royalties, a move it believes is very much possible.

Speaking on the future of its new initiative, Nifty Gateway says its team plans to include the creator Royalty Standard as a “built-in option” within its Publishers tool. This will enable creators to control where and how their works are sold.

Nifty gateway joins the fight for enforced creator royalties

In response to a growing market share of marketplaces allowing users to avoid creator royalties from sales, OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, released a tool on November 5 that would allow new NFT collections to enforce creator fees on-chain. Immutable and several other NFT trading platforms have also made similar moves. 

Nifty Gateway is now joining the creators royalties wars, saying it “always has and always will honor royalties for all projects.” This new development not only helps ensure that NFT creators get their due but also establishes a community for the maintenance of this scheme. 

As of press time, four NFT enthusiasts have joined the coalition team, including  NFT NOW CEO Matt Medved, artist Bryan Brinkman, Nifty Gateway creative lead @niftytime, and digital artist Ekaitza. Nifty Gate has also asked those interested in joining the coalition to fill out a form provided in its tweets.