ERC-2981

What is ERC-2981?

ERC-2981 is an Ethereum standard that provides a universal way to handle royalty payments for NFTs. It allows creators to specify a royalty percentage and a recipient address directly within the NFT's smart contract.

How does ERC-2981 work?

1. The developer implements the royaltyInfo() function in their NFT contract.
2. When an NFT is sold on a marketplace, the marketplace queries this function.
3. The function returns the royalty amount (e.g., 5%) and the creator's wallet address.
4. The marketplace then routes that portion of the sale price to the creator.
5. This creates a standardized way for royalties to work across different platforms.

Why does ERC-2981 matter?

Before ERC-2981, royalties were often "off-chain" and specific to a single marketplace (like OpenSea). If an NFT was sold on a different platform, the creator wouldn't get paid.

Key features of ERC-2981

• Standardized royalty signaling
• Platform-agnostic (works across marketplaces)
• Supports both ERC-721 and ERC-1155
• Fixed or dynamic royalty calculations
• Simplifies accounting for dApps and marketplaces

Examples of ERC-2981

Sarah mints a 1-of-1 NFT and sets a 10% royalty via ERC-2981.

If the NFT is sold on OpenSea for 1 ETH, Sarah gets 0.1 ETH .

If that buyer later sells it on LooksRare for 5 ETH, Sarah automatically receives another 0.5 ETH.