Venture capital firm attempts to make NFT standard licenses

GM folks, we're glad you're still with us on this magical, and at times anxiety-inducing journey in Web3. Real talk, make sure to take care of your mental health, and spend some time away from screens/charts.

Estimated read time: 4 minutes 10 seconds

Today's stories:

• Venture capital firm attempts to make NFT standard licenses

• Terrible idea? Make NPCs real people using NFTs

• Top NFT sales of the day

Venture capital firm attempts to make NFT standard licenses

We’ve written before about NFT licenses and the frustrations they cause – whether its holders overestimating their rights to IP, or a collection’s value being threatened by the effects of public domain access.

Creative Commons is the universal standard that most people look to for guidance on content rights. They’ve been wildly popular since their creation over two decades ago, helping millions quickly understand usage rights – without needing a lawyer to write or read a bespoke contract.

But CC categories weren’t made to handle the sometimes complex ownership agreements that come with NFTs and tied artwork. So, while they do help, they don’t always perfectly align with the needs of projects and holders.

Now, Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has suggested a new standard that makes it easy for creators and collectors to understand their rights.

The CantBeEvil license

a16z’s Can’t Be Evil NFT License comes in 6 different versions, on a scale of permissive to restrictive – just like Creative Commons standards.

• At the most permissive end of the scale is CBE-ECR, which allows anyone to do practically anything with the artwork (holder or not), including monetizing it and licensing it out to third parties.

• The most restrictive license is CBE-PR-HS, which only allows personal use of NFT artwork, with creators getting the right to revoke it if they feel it’s being used for hate speech.

All 6 variations let holders copy and distribute content associated with the NFTs, as well as the ability to either modify or sub-license content (or both).

The licenses are intended to be “tailored by creators of NFT projects to suit their specified needs.”

What’s the big deal?

When you buy an NFT, you’re purchasing a blockchain token that’s tied to an asset (usually PFP artwork). Many people assume that owning the token means you fully own the tied asset, but that’s not always the case. These things need spelling out in clear, simple terms.

Also: standard US copyright laws surrounding artwork are more restrictive than you might think. Most don’t let holders make copies of their purchase. You’re not even automatically allowed to publicly display art that you’ve bought!

Here’s a blog post from A16Z, explaining the project in full.

Terrible idea? Make NPCs real people using NFTs

Here’s a feature from Rest of the World about kids from the Philippines earning small amounts of money by farming/grinding in Critterz. It’s the game that attempted to bring NFTs into the Minecraft universe – before Minecraft officially came out against blockchain integrations.

While the ethics of hiring third-party gamers (usually young & from developing countries) to level up your stats are questionable, they’re not new.

What really sparked discussion in the article was an idea by Mikhai Kossar, a member of gaming-focused Wolves DAO, about using NFTs to replace NPCs with a real-life workforce:

“With the cheap labor of a developing country, you could use people in the Philippines as NPCs (“non-playable characters”), real-life NPCs in your game,” said Kossar. They could “just populate the world, maybe do a random job or just walk back and forth, fishing, telling stories, a shopkeeper, anything is really possible.”

Here’s some upset people responding:

So is this straight-up exploitation, or just the web3 equivalent of working at Medieval Times?

Decentra Daily Wolf Game Giveaway

Here's your reminder that this month is our Wolf Game giveaway! We are giving away a 'starter pack' worth >1.5 ETH ($2,500):

Successful newsletter referrals earn 5 entries each

Any interactions on our Wolf Game social posts also act as entries to the giveaway, you can read all about the giveaway in this post:

Top NFT sales of the day

1. @BoredApeYC #441 - 351,000.00 DAI ($350,992.50)

2. @BoredApeYC #2897 - 215.38 ETH ($296,404.13)

3. @AzukiOfficial #4978 - 105 ETH ($140,236.70)

4. @BoredApeYC #9948 -90 ETH ($123,857.23)

Azuki making an appearance in the top sales....Dingaling swept as well, perhaps there are imminent announcements?

Headlines of the day

• For $5 A Month, Crypto Now Has Your Cell Plan Covered

• Nasdaq To Enter Crypto Custody Market for Institutional Clients

• PGA Tour Links With Autograph for Multi-Year NFT Platform Partnership

Disclaimer: Nothing in this article/newsletter should be considered financial advice. The purpose is to inform readers of the current trends and news in the web3 space. We encourage every reader to do their own research and not act upon information put forth by Decentra Daily.