Which studies show how often creators still got paid after royalties became optional?
Research question: Which on-chain studies measure the share of secondary NFT sales that actually paid creator royalties after marketplaces made royalty enforcement optional?
The verified facts do not name any on-chain study that measures the share of secondary NFT sales that actually paid creator royalties after enforcement became optional. Royalty enforcement became optional when OpenSea changed its policy in February 2023 and most general marketplaces followed 4. The closest match is a resale study that found royalty enforcement is negatively correlated with secondary sale prices and resale probabilities, using hedonic regression, but it does not report a payment share 2. A 2025 document cites industry estimates, not named on-chain studies, for Ethereum royalty earnings and an average effective royalty rate across platforms 3. The newest fact is from 2025, so it is roughly a year or more old as of October 2026 3.
Sources
"early standards such as EIP-2981 allowed creators to specify a royalty rate but left compliance at the discretion of individual platforms"Economics of NFTs: The Value of Creator Royalties (2022)
"Our hedonic regression specifications show that royalty enforcement is negatively correlated with the secondary sale price and resale probabilities of"The economics of resale royalties: Evidence from non-fungible tokens - ScienceDirect
"By industry estimates, Ethereum-based creators earned roughly $920 million in royalties in 2025 , with cumulative payouts now well past $1.8 billion , and the average effective royalty rate across platforms has stabilized at around 6% ."NFT Marketplaces and Secondary Sale Royalties: Smart Contracts, Copyright, and Contractual Expectations
"OpenSea made royalties optional in February 2023; most general marketplaces followed."NFT Marketplaces and Secondary Sale Royalties: Smart Contracts, Copyright, and Contractual Expectations