The leader Frank states this will aid in redefining what a “rug” is
DeGods has now joined the zero royalties bandwagon. NFTs have been created with various communities promised royalties for their sales. Creators for the NFTs can set a fixed percentage which allows them to benefit from future sales of the NFT, this is one of the reasons NFTs are so appealing to artists and creators, no longer is their work being exploited or taken advantage of, instead, they are able to really make a living off of their talent and artwork. Usually, royalties are set at a modest 5 to 10% as marketplaces take 0.5 to 2.5%. The fees on the market are usually paid by the seller. There were a few ways to do a mint, one way would be higher prices paired with lower royalties or free mints with higher royalties.
There comes a debate where perhaps communities are asking for too much. People asking for ultimate utility, with a free mint, full IP rights, and no royalties all seems a bit much. A lot of what is being asked can be considered completely unjust by some in the community. As the debate rages on Twitter and discord yet another high-profile project has joined the group of projects that have removed royalties completely.
DeGods
DeGods has had a wild ride as of late. During the last month, the project saw a massive increase in sales as the team prepared for their sale of Y00ts- their new NFT project. Currently, the leader of DeGods who goes by Frank has stated this new switch to zero royalties is an experiment but some say it doesn’t quite feel that way. The team at DeGods has stated this is the best decision for its business, one that protects the collection from any future legal issues.
DeGods is not the first project to make this move as many projects seem to be going the zero royalty route. CryptoPunks announced a 0% royalty structure and other creators are giving away rights to their work.
The announcement of DeGods was made this past Sunday via tweet:
There was also a statement made about how they still believe in the royalties system
“We still believe that royalties are an incredible use case of NFTs,” DeGods tweeted on Sunday. “We will continue to support creators that want to find solutions to enforce royalties.”
In discussing the decision further, the creator of DeGods stated he believed this type of move will aid in “redefining what a “rug” means” speaking on how DeGods was called a rugged project for 5 months before it got to its current status as the top Solana NFT project.
In DeGods Defense…. Or Not
DeGods has gotten some slack and some heat from this decision with Solanart being one of the strongest supporters. Solanart announced a custom fee system on their marketplace allowing for buyers and sellers to decide on a fair royalty schedule themselves. The Solana-based marketplace tweeted in support of DeGods when some in the community suspected that because of the move to zero royalties DeGods would face a drop to zero valuation.
There are of course some that have challenged the decision made by Frank and his team. Crown Capital DAO founder Dylan Shub was straight about his thoughts on the move.
Another user @hyxttcrypto questioned how DeGods and the team were going to survive now that the royalties are gone , stating that the team is where they are now because of royalties.
One other user @hyper_idk stated the change is simply due to what customers want and that Frank saw the writing on the wall.
The sentiment has been back and forth with even @hyxttcrypto changing their stance a bit
The debate rages on but currently, zero royalties seems to be a sentiment that many platforms are looking to adopt.
