Quick take:
- Magic Eden launched MetaShield in partnership with Coral Cube.
- Creators can review listings and sales of NFTs that bypass royalties with MetaShield.
- Creators can also “shield” those listings by updating metadata, flagging the NFT, or blurring the image.
Magic Eden today launched a new feature called MetaShield, which creators can use to protect their royalty revenue stream. MetaShield was launched in partnership with Coral Cube, an NFT marketplace and aggregator.
MetaShield gives creators the ability to track SOL NFTs listed with custom royalties and take actions to protect their revenue stream. For instance, MetaShield identifies NFTs listed/traded on marketplaces that bypass creator royalties. Creators of those NFTs can then “shield” or modify their NFTs with actions like updating metadata, flagging the NFT, or blurring the image.
If a buyer purchases an NFT that has bypassed royalties, they will incur a debt for the unpaid royalty which has to be paid to “unshield” the NFT. This means that buyers would have to pay the debt before the particular NFT can be reverted to its original state.
Magic Eden said that the royalty debt is not meant to punish buyers, but instead incentivises recognition of the hard work that creators do to ensure the NFT retains its underlying value, and warns a potential buyer that they’re not honouring creator royalties.
To access the creator tool, creators would have to log on to https://coralcube.io/inspector and connect the wallet with the update authority. They can then review current listings aggregated from marketplaces such as Yawww, Solanart and FoxySwap with customized royalties.
Creators can also collect token addresses of sold NFTs that have bypassed full royalties, calculate debt, and withhold benefits from holders of debt-ridden NFTs such as not allowing these items to be staked and removing access to holder Discord channels.
Magic Eden said that MetaShield is just one tool that the marketplace has developed to address the issue of bypassing royalties, and users can expect more tools to come.
The launch of MetaShield drew some criticism from NFT collectors, who feel that this is a cash grab by Magic Eden and that the tool makes NFTs on the platform centralised and fungible.
Nowadays, you just lease #NFTs from a central authority that can render them useless for whatever arbitrary reason they decide.
— J//G0Ξ 👁️ (@JagoeCapital) September 3, 2022
Such financial sovereignty!
Wow #Web3!
Twitter user “@k4relick” said: “While creator royalties are important, this metadata alteration goes against the immutable emphasis of the blockchain. Moving this direction basically shows that consumers don’t actually “own” their NFT, just a pointer to some metadata. Seems to be a regressive move imo.”
In response, “@TypicalAndorian” tweeted: “This has been debated so much lately, the simple fact is Non-Fungible and Immutable are two different things. There have always been two social contracts on NFTs especially in Solana. One is the founder’s promise to build, the other is investors promise to pay the royalties.”
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