EIP-2981 Royalty Standard vs. Custom Marketplace Enforcement

Universal marketplace support: A single on-chain function (royaltyInfo) that compliant platforms like OpenSea, Blur, and LooksRare automatically respect. This reduces integration overhead and ensures creator fees are paid across a fragmented ecosystem. This matters for collections launching on multiple marketplaces.

Low-cost, on-chain logic: The royalty calculation is a simple view function, adding minimal gas overhead to transfers. No complex off-chain services or custom contracts are required for basic enforcement. This matters for projects prioritizing lean contract deployment and predictable minting costs.

Protocol-level enforcement: Techniques like transfer hooks (e.g., Seaport's _update), blocklist functions, or custom sale logic (used by Art Blocks) can mandate royalties on any sale, including OTC and private sales. This matters for high-value PFP or generative art projects where royalty bypass is a critical revenue threat.

Dynamic and complex logic: Enables tiered royalties, time-based decays, or revenue splits that EIP-2981's static receiver and amount cannot support. Used by platforms like Manifold for advanced creator tools. This matters for DAO-governed collections or projects with sophisticated treasury management needs.

Universal Support: A single, on-chain function (royaltyInfo) that any compliant marketplace (OpenSea, Blur, LooksRare) can query. This creates a predictable, chain-level royalty layer.

This matters for creators launching collections across multiple platforms, as it ensures a single source of truth for royalty parameters without per-platform configuration.

Immutable Rules: Royalty parameters (recipient, fee basis points) are embedded in the NFT contract's code or metadata, visible to all. This prevents post-hoc manipulation by marketplaces.

This matters for high-value art and generative projects where creator trust and provenance are paramount. The terms are enforced by the protocol, not platform policy.

Platform-Specific Logic: Marketplaces like Sudoswap or Blur implement their own fee tables, allowlists, and trading rules. This enables features like optional royalties, fee tiers, and dynamic adjustments based on volume.

This matters for marketplaces optimizing for trader experience and liquidity, allowing them to adapt policies competitively without being bound by a contract standard.

Direct Contract Integration: Advanced systems can use transfer hooks, operator allowlists, or custom sale logic to block trades on non-compliant platforms or enforce fees at the settlement layer.

This matters for protocols like Manifold or Art Blocks Curated that require strong, non-optional royalties, or for marketplaces seeking to minimize fees to attract high-frequency traders.

Universal Integration: A single royaltyInfo function call enables seamless support across all compliant marketplaces like OpenSea, Blur, and LooksRare. This reduces integration friction for creators and ensures consistent royalty logic. This matters for protocols launching broad NFT collections that need to be tradable everywhere without custom contracts per marketplace.

Low Overhead for Artists: Creators can deploy standard ERC-721/1155 contracts (e.g., using OpenZeppelin) with minimal modification, focusing on art and community rather than complex enforcement logic. This matters for independent artists and brands without dedicated smart contract engineering teams, lowering the barrier to entry.

Voluntary Compliance: The standard is a suggestion, not an enforcement mechanism. Major marketplaces like Blur and Sudoswap have disabled fee forwarding, leading to ~$100M+ in lost royalties annually. This matters for high-value collections and DAOs where secondary sales revenue is a core part of the economic model.

Contract-Level Enforcement: Techniques like transfer hooks (ERC-721Psi), owner-only listing, or blocking non-compliant exchanges (e.g., Manifold's Royalty Registry) make royalties non-optional. This matters for enterprise NFT projects and gaming assets where predictable, on-chain revenue is non-negotiable.

Flexible Business Logic: Enables sophisticated rules like dynamic fees, revenue splits to multiple parties, or staking requirements for fee discounts. Projects like Art Blocks and Bored Ape Yacht Club use custom logic for granular control. This matters for complex DAO treasuries and multi-party creator economies.

Marketplace Fragmentation: Requires bespoke allowlisting or integration with each exchange, increasing development and maintenance overhead. Can limit initial liquidity by excluding non-compliant platforms. This matters for startups with constrained engineering resources who need maximum launch liquidity across all venues.