Yuga Labs launched its latest NFT collection, the ‘Sewer Pass’, which sees a new move that puts creators first.
The NFT project is built in the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem, and interest was high after yielding over 4000 ETH on its first day.
Those who own a Bored Ape Yacht Club or Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT were eligible to receive a free Sewer Pass. This will act as a key to playing Dookey Dash. Anyone who plays the game from January 19 to February 8 will accumulate scores that will be used in what Yuga Labs is calling ‘Chapter 1’.
The Sewer Passes are divided into four levels depending on if the holder of a Bored Ape or Mutant Ape NFT also held an NFT from the Bored Ape Kennel Club in their wallet.
At present, Tier 1 Sewer Passes are going for about $1,970 on OpenSea’s secondary NFT marketplace. Tier 4 passes are valued at up to an incredible $640,000.
Sewer Passes Come with a Certain Condition
Yuga Labs has pulled a masterstroke against rival marketplaces with its latest NFT collection after blacklisting wallets that belong to secondary marketplaces LooksRare and NFTX. This is a bid to ensure creators get more royalties.
The smart contract that governs the Sewer Pass also included specific conditions determining how they can be used. In short, there’s a code snippet that restricts NFT sales to only marketplaces that enforce creator fees.
Consequently, with marketplaces LooksRare and X2Y2 preferring to make creator fees optional, they have been blacklisted onchain from the new NFT collection.
A spokesperson for Yuga Labs ratified the company’s creator-first ethos. ‘We’ve always been a creative-first company, and we believe that creator royalties must be protected,’ said the Yuga Labs spokesperson. ‘The Sewer Pass free claim will only be traded on platforms respecting creator royalties.’
This move from Yuga Labs should come as no surprise after co-founder Wylie Aronow has been very vocal in safeguarding creators’ royalties in the past. In fact, last November he said the company was delving into using smart contracts with allowlists to differentiate between wallets used for transfers.
Creator Royalties Right or Not?
NFT creator royalties are basically a guarantee for creators to keep earning from secondary sales of their work. Renowned digital artist Beeple gets 10% each time his NFTs are bought and sold after the initial purchase.
The enforcement of creator royalties has been the center of attention among NFT stakeholders, prompting some marketplaces to make them optional. And this polarizing issue has stirred up debate and brought about many different views from all sides involved.
Some say it’s only fair that creators continue to earn from their hard work, whereas others will argue the money they earn from the initial sale should be enough.
