SEC Probes Yuga Labs, DeGods Eliminate NFT Royalties

OpenSea this week added support for the Avalanche (AVAX) chain – its seventh blockchain for NFT transactions. However, AVAX traders seemed unconcerned as the token continued its steady decline in a bumpy week for digital collectibles markets.

And for gamers out there, upcoming multiplayer first-person shooter Web3 game Shrapnel recently released its financial whitepaper outlining the gameplay and resources in the game after releasing a movie-like gameplay trailer.

Here are other notable stories that caught the eye of Web3 Watch, starting with Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs.

The SEC will have a closer look at the Monkeys

The SEC has made Yuga Labs its latest target in a series of investigations into crypto and Web3 companies.

The investigation will determine whether the sale of digital assets violates federal securities laws. The brand portfolio includes BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, Meebits, Otherside metaverse and ApeCoin (APE) token.

“We hope to work with the rest of the industry and regulators to define and shape the emerging ecosystem,” Yuga Labs said in a statement.

Regardless of the outcome, Yuga Labs is the highest valued NFT company – and the SEC’s decision is likely to set an industry precedent.

ApeCoin’s upcoming betting plans on October 31 may have caught the regulator’s attention. When asked to comment on the effort, Yuga Labs told Blockworks that while it was an initial launch contributor of ApeCoin, it is not involved in the independently run ApeCoin DAO, “so there’s not much we can say on the matter.”

Within an hour of the SEC’s announcement, APE’s price fell from $5.16 to $4.77 and has continued to decline.

Yuga, on the other hand, continues to trudge through The Swamp and has since announced its $1 million commitment to support education and arts initiatives in Miami — the hometown of its co-founders and CEO.

In addition, Yuga Labs has recently brought together the BAYC and MAYC Community Council – consisting of seven of the earliest Ape holders. The idea is to keep your ears to the ground and collect feedback from the community to forward back to the management team.

DeGods joins the zero-royalties club

DeGods, the most popular NFT project on Solana, tweeted that it is updating all its NFTs to 0% royalties. The DeGods collection will go from having 9.99% royalties to zero.

This “experiment” was done in the name of the business. DeGods did not provide further details.

Other Dust Labs-owned collections, y00ts and t00bs, will also have their royalties updated soon, according to the company.

The team has yet to reveal their artwork to y00ts, over a month after the first mouthful. And the artist behind that and the larger DeGods ecosystem, known as SCUM, recently left the project.

The decision to eliminate the royalty structure calls into question the importance of royalties in the NFT space. Royalties are the payment, expressed in percentages, that NFT creators receive every time someone sells their digital assets.

For traders, this means lower turnaround costs and an extra incentive to trade. Creators usually get to decide their cut per sale.

Twitter users reacted with skepticism with questions like, “But how will the team make money?” to comments like “How about paying royalties to everyone to have your pfp?”

Founder Frank DeGods black acknowledging how people had labeled them a “dead project and a blanket” for months. He stated that: “If the royalties go away … I think the space will be more open to redefine what ‘carpet’ means.”

Back in August, NFT artist Beeple weighed in, tweeting, “Creators need to build a collector base that WILL honor those royalties.” Treating holders “fairly” is likely to lead to increased support.

Q&A with Unstoppable Domains

Unstoppable Domains, a founding member of the Unstoppable Women of Web3 (UWoW3) educational group, announced Tuesday its commitment to onboard over five million women across Latin America in Web3 by 2030 and consequently distribute $25 million in free NFT domains.

UWoW3 partnered with Latin America-based organizations CryptoConexión and HER DAO LATAM to create free educational courses in English, Spanish and Portuguese, along with workshops and hackathons, to help female developers transition to Web3.

Unstoppable Domains also recently ran a giveaway in partnership with Abu Dhabi firms to ensure that every woman living in the Emirati capital gets a decentralized domain name.

Blockworks connected with the company’s Senior Vice President Sandy Carter to discuss Unstoppable Domain’s education initiatives.

Blockwork: Unstoppable Domains recently launched a set of online courses. Why would a student choose UWoW3 education streams over other academic platforms?

Carter: UWoW3 education streams are completely free and feature content from leaders across the Web3. For university students, they can be a great resource for immersing themselves in the blockchain space and a supplement to any blockchain-focused academic content.

Blockwork: Why is UWoW3 now turning to Latin America? Which specific countries are being targeted?

Carter: When we launched our education streams, one of the main requests we received was to offer content in Spanish. We had also heard from Monica Talan, founder of CryptoConexión, who was excited to partner with Unstoppable Women of Web3 to bring our mission into Latin America. All universities that meet a set criteria will be eligible for free domains. Our first hackathons will take place in countries in Latin America with larger populations, and we will work with local partners to hold events in other countries.

Blockwork: While Latin American countries have embraced crypto largely out of necessity amid unstable economies, what specific skills or fields within the blockchain industry does Unstoppable Domains believe users in Latin America should focus on?

Carter: There is a wide range of topics in Web3 that are worth exploring, from how to create your first NFT to developing for the blockchain. Our Spanish Web3 courses offer topics at a range of levels, so we can support people on their journey whether they’re just learning about Web3 or ready to start building in the space.

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