Earnings from NFT royalties hits two-year low: Nansen

Quick Take

  • Royalties earned for NFT creators hit a two-year low, according to crypto data firm Nansen.
  • The diminished residual returns for NFT creators comes amid lowest-ever floor prices among blue-chip NFT projects. 

Earnings from NFT royalties hit their lowest volume since 2021, according to crypto data firm Nansen.

"OpenSea had been the dominant platform for distributing royalties to NFT projects until February 2023," Nansen stated in a new report on NFT royalties. It added that the landshape shifted when Blur introduced requirements for royalties and OpenSea adapted its policies.

NFT royalty data since September 2018. Image: Nansen

"Currently, OpenSea and Blur are on par with each other when it comes to the royalties paid through their respective marketplaces, with more royalties paid on Blur when the trading volume surges," it noted.

While NFT earnings have declined, some top projects have still earned a lot from them. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has seen a total of 22,288 ETH ($42.2 million) in all-time royalties, per Nansen data. Azuki, which has been under a lot of controversy recently, has recorded 17,362 ETH ($33 million) in all-time royalties.

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BAYC NFTs reached its lowest floor price in over a year this week. The minimum cost of this blue-chip NFT hit a low of 27.03 ETH (around $51,500) before rising to 29 ETH as of publication, The Block's data shows. The price of other popular NFT projects fell as well, with CryptoPunks hitting a 41 ETH ($78,000) minimum cost and Azuki plummeting to a 8 ETH ($15,000) floor price.

In 2022, NFT creators earned $1.8 billion in royalties, with the top 10 projects netting $489 million in residual earnings.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.

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