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ERC-2981: NFT Royalty Standard

ERC-2981 addresses the challenge of interoperable royalty payments for non-fungible tokens across decentralized marketplaces. Prior to this standard, each marke

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Abstract

ERC-2981 addresses the challenge of interoperable royalty payments for non-fungible tokens across decentralized marketplaces. Prior to this standard, each marketplace implemented proprietary royalty systems, creating silos that inhibited cross-platform creator compensation. This standard proposes a simple, universal function, ‘royaltyInfo()’, which allows any marketplace to query the token contract for royalty information, including the recipient address and the royalty amount based on a percentage of the sale price. By standardizing this communication, ERC-2981 enables creators to maintain consistent revenue streams regardless of where their assets are traded. This technical specification is critical for the long-term viability of the NFT ecosystem as it aligns the interests of creators, collectors, and platforms, fostering a more sustainable creator economy through automated, on-chain value redistribution. Authors: Zach Burks, James Morgan, Blaine Malone, James Williams Publication: Ethereum Improvement Proposals Publication date: 2020-01-01

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Key findings

  • Standardization enables cross-marketplace royalty enforcement for the first time.
  • Implementation is lightweight and requires minimal overhead for NFT developers.
  • The standard relies on voluntary adherence by secondary market platforms.
  • It provides a clear mechanism for determining beneficiary and payment percentage at the point of sale.

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Citation

Zach Burks, James Morgan, Blaine Malone, James Williams (2020). ERC-2981: NFT Royalty Standard. Ethereum Improvement Proposals. https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2981
Canonical knowledge ID: research:erc-2981-nft-royalty-standard