Magic Eden Tweaks Royalty Model to Maintain Dominance Over Solana NFTs

Magic Eden, a Solana-based NFT marketplace, revealed it was switching to an optional royalty model and said it would waive the 2% platform fee from Oct 14.

The new optional incentivization model allows the buyer to determine the number of royalties they will pay. While all collections will honor full royalties by default, buyers have the option decide whether to pay and how much.

Magic Eden wrote that, its “rationale for shifting royalties payments to the buyer is to make sure the buyer has full understanding of whether they are going to receive the benefits that creators provide (Discord, staking, etc.).”

The NFT marketplace conceded that the decision was not easy. Still, the shifting market dynamics forced its hand. The Web3 company added that it would also launch a $1 million Creator Monetization Hackathon. The initiative will focus on developing new ways for creators to monetize their works on the platform.

Magic Eden: Solana NFT Marketplace Optional Royalties

Recently, Solana-based NFT marketplaces like X2Y2, Yawww, and Solanart launched platforms that allow users to trade NFTs without paying royalties. Apart from these marketplaces, other NFT projects like DeGods also introduced the concept of 0% royalties to the market.

The move has divided the community, with some showing support for the new model the Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden wants to implement while others criticized it for its treatment of creators.

Magic Eden revealed that NFT marketplaces with this optional royalties model had seen an increase in the number of wallets interacting with their platform.

What is the State of the Solana NFT Market?

Magic Eden dominance of Solana marketplace appears to be waning in light of the latest developments in the space. According to data from Tiexo, Magic Eden controlled 89% of Solana NFT market volumes six months ago. But that figure has dropped to 69% as of press time.

Meanwhile, NFT marketplaces with optional royalty models like Solanart saw their volume rise from 1.66% to 6.62% as of press time.

Despite the progress made by these platforms, DappRadar data shows that the number of unique active wallets interacting with Magic Eden rose by 37.52% over the last 30 days. The Solana marketplace also processed 22.24 million.