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

• Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 

Guests

Laura Shin, author, and host of Unchained

Zhuoxun Yin, cofounder of Magic Eden

Li Jin, cofounder of Variant

Episode Links

• Magic Eden Optional Royalties - Unchained Coverage 
• Post-debate poll
• Tool Metashield 
• The standards innovation paradox by Li Jin
• X2y2 flexible royalties
• Previous episodes of The Chopping Block debating NFT Royalties
• The Chopping Block - Ep. 405
• The Chopping Block - Ep. 386
• Article: Why NFT Creators and Collectors Can’t Stop Talking About Artist Royalties
• Article: NFT Royalties: Why artists love them, and traders don’t

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