Welcome to The Chopping Block! Host Haseeb Qureshi partnered with Zhuoxun Yin, cofounder of Magic Eden, to debate Unchained host Laura Shin and Li Jin, cofounder at Variant Fund, on the topic of NFT Royalties. 

Show highlights:

  • What NFT royalties are
  • Why Laura believes zero NFT royalties is a bad business decision prioritizing short-term needs over long-term ones and that it will turn creators off from the industry
  • How charging royalties is not sustainable, according to Haseeb
  • Why royalties are the best mechanism to align incentives between creators and holders, according to Li
  • The technical limitations of NFT royalties on a general-purpose blockchain like Ethereum or Solana
  • How to align incentives between NFT creators and holders
  • Why the prices of NFTs would go up if royalties are not enforced
  • Whether the NFT market will change in the future
  • Whether it is possible to create a standard that enforces royalties in a smart contract
  • The creators’ reaction to Magic Eden moving to optional royalties
  • The possibility of a bifurcation of the NFT market

Hosts

Guests

Laura Shin, author, and host of Unchained

Zhuoxun Yin, cofounder of Magic Eden

Li Jin, cofounder of Variant