As NFTs grow in popularity daily, their use cases tend to attract users giving creators more reasons to explore NFT collections.
As NFTs lure users, they also provide more reasons for a holder to no longer need an NFT such as making a mistake while minting, possessing an invaluable token due to a rugged project, or a creator who may be new to the NFT space and is just testing the waters so they have to delete their NFT.
Whatever the reason, it’s important to understand that Non-Fungible Tokens can’t be deleted but, they can be burned. NFTs are a new type of digital asset that is stored on a blockchain. NFTs are unique and cannot be replicated. Once an NFT is minted, it is considered immutable and will exist on the blockchain forever. NFTs can be burned by being sent to an inaccessible address, which removes them from circulation.
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LooksRare Marketplace
LooksRare is a community-first NFT marketplace that directly offers trading rewards and token incentives to all users of the platform. Whether you’re a creator, collector, or trader, you are eligible to earn their native token, Looks Token. By creating an online space where virtually any NFT can be traded freely and efficiently, LooksRare is unlocking the full potential of blockchain technology.
LooksRare is committed to building secure smart contracts that can be easily updated with new features over time. The modular framework and standardized signatures of LooksRare’s smart contracts allow for transparent execution without compromising security.
Some of the upcoming features for LooksRare include:
Collection Offer –
The ability to make an offer for an entire NFT collection.
Trait offer –
Allows users to buy any NFT with a specific trait from a collection.
Multi-cancellation –
Users can cancel multiple open orders in one transaction.
The technical framework of LooksRare has been designed from the ground up with scalability, speed, and security in mind. Furthermore, LooksRare is also compatible with ETH scaling solutions for future deployments.
LooksRare Platform Fees
LooksRare is a decentralized marketplace that is powered by the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs can be bought and sold on LooksRare with a 2% sales fee charged on each transaction. The WETH fee from the sale of the WETH tokens is cumulative at the end of each 6500 block period and is distributed to LOOKS token stakers per block during the next 6500 blocks.
As long as users have their LOOKS tokens staked, they can accumulate WETH rewards. There is no limit to how often a reward can be claimed, but there will be a gas fee each time they are withdrawn. If a user forgets to claim their rewards, or if they prefer to wait until gas fees are lower, their WETH will continue to accumulate as long as their tokens remain staked.
As a community-based project, all of the revenue generated is given back to those who stake LOOKS tokens. The team behind the project will only be rewarded if the project is successful.
Looks Token
The LooksRare marketplace is powered by the native LOOKS token. There is a total supply of 1 billion LOOKS tokens, each with a current price point of $1.02.
Staking
LooksRare provides users with a way to earn passive income. By staking their LOOKS tokens on the platform, users can receive WETH and LOOKS at an APR of over 700%. As the network grows and more users are onboarded, this APR will decrease, making it increasingly beneficial for users to stake their assets.
There are two types of staking; active and passive.
Most token stakers are active stakers, whose LOOKS tokens are fully unlocked.
Passive staking allows you to earn tokens for your LOOKS holdings, but it does not incentivize token-holders to trade or stake — according to the allocation rules of each project.
Passive stakers don’t earn extra tokens when they stake looks tokens as they are locked for trade but unlocked for staking such as team, treasury, and strategic sale tokens.
The token determines whether or not it is an active or passive staking project, and this means that the number of rewards earned per day will vary depending on the chosen staking type.
LooksRare Rewards
Users who trade NFTs can earn rewards in the form of LOOKS tokens, simply by buying and selling from selected collections.
The amount of tokens earned each day is based on the number of NFTs traded with rarer NFTs providing greater rewards.
The distribution of these rewards occurs at the end of each previous period and is split between active and passive stakers.
The WETH rewards for active stakers are calculated by comparing the amount of staked LOOKS by each user at each block to the total amount of LOOKS staked at that block during the 6,500 block period. The more LOOKS a user has staked, the greater their reward will be.
Each day, users who buy or sell NFTs on the LooksRare platform earn rewards based on the trade volume, outside of private sales, for that day. Trading rewards are distributed two hours after the end of the day and are calculated according to the proportion of each user’s trade volume in eligible collections relative to the total platform transaction volume for qualifying collections.
Claiming is halted for two hours each day, between 00:00 AM and 2:00 AM UTC, while processing trading rewards. These rewards can be claimed at 2:00 AM UTC every day.
Only collections that reach a trading volume of 1,000 ETH will be added to the eligible collections to receive rewards. Once a collection hits its trading volume, rewards will be processed from sales completed after 00:00 AM UTC the following day.
Be mindful, that users will have to pay gas fees each time they claim their rewards.
Users who stake LOOKS tokens are rewarded with 100% trading fees.
LOOKS tokens can be staked on the platform to earn extra LOOKS rewards, on top of the already existing WETH trading fee incentives. Staking LOOKS tokens also allows them to be compounded automatically for those who choose to leave the tokens staked.
In order to ensure they are receiving the maximum amount of staked tokens, users must manually stake their pending rewards. However, this process can be costly in terms of gas fees and opportunity costs. To mitigate these issues, LooksRare has implemented auto-compounding for all LOOKS users.
LOOKS rewards that are earned from staking LOOKS tokens are now automatically reinvested back into the pool. This increases the number of LOOKS that are staked and allows users to earn more rewards. When users unstake their LOOKS, they will receive both the initial staked amount as well as any compounded rewards.
Wash Trading on LooksRare
NFT trading volume has created a surge in the LooksRare platform as the top NFT Marketplace with users selling tokens to themselves to earn rewards in the form of coins. This activity is known as wash trading, where users artificially inflate trading volume to earn rewards.
Around 95% of the total $22.2 billion in trading volume on LooksRare is thought to come from wash trading, with over 106,000 transactions taking place. Despite this issue, the popular LooksRare remains the most popular NFT marketplace in trading volume due to its wide selection and easy-to-use interface.
What is Wash Trading
Wash trading is a type of market manipulation that occurs when traders buy and sell assets for the purpose of artificially inflating prices. This activity can be profitable for the traders involved, as it can result in higher revenue from transaction fees. However, it ultimately harms the market by artificially inflating prices and creating a false sense of value.
NFT sales have been declining this year, but there are still many users who are seeking to make a profit, ethical or not. LooksRare, which was launched in January 2022 by two anonymous developers, has quickly become an alternative to NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. While some may be turned off by the anonymous nature of the developers, the platform has found many users who appreciate its simple interface and lack of fees.
Wash trading in the NFT space can have negative consequences, especially if regulators start to pay closer attention to the market. In other markets, wash trading is considered illegal, and increasing regulation could put a stop to it in the crypto market.
NFT Markets And Wash Trading
The use of blockchain technology has allowed for a new level of security and transparency in the world of online transactions. However, recent reports have surfaced that suggest that not all is as it seems in the world of blockchain-based transactions.
According to Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis, and security firm, there has been an increase in wash trading in the NFT market. Wash trading is a type of trading that artificially inflates prices by having users sell tokens to themselves or to other addresses that they are associated with.
In its report from February 2022, Chainalysis found that 262 users had sold NFTs to addresses they were associated with. In addition, the firm observed that money laundering often took place through NFTs. While the use of blockchain technology has brought about many benefits, it is important to be aware of the potential risks involved in participating in this type of activity.
However, the majority of NFT wash trades have not been making profits. Those who have been profitable have made incredible profits, though, putting overall profits in the millions. Their success might not last long as Chainalysis points out that authorities are turning their attention to the crypto market recommending that marketplaces discourage wash trading activity to avoid any negative repercussions for the industry as a whole.
Deleting Your NFT on NFT Marketplaces
So what happens when you get stuck with an NFT that holds no value because you were a victim of wash trading and purchased an inflated asset? Deleting the NFT may be your only option.
In order to delete an NFT, you must send it to the Ethereum burn address. This address, 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, is essentially a black hole that will consume the NFT. Transferring an NFT to this address will cost a small amount of ether. Once an NFT is sent to this address, it cannot be retrieved or sold on the LooksRare Marketplace.
Deleting Your NFT on LooksRare
NFTs are not able to be truly deleted but you can burn an NFT by sending them to the burn NFT address. With LooksRare, this action is better known as transferring the NFT.
Transferring Your NFT
NFT assets can now be transferred to other addresses directly from the NFT details page. This simplifies the process compared to having to do it through a wallet or another NFT marketplace.
To transfer an NFT, go to the 3 dots menu and select the “Transfer” option. You will see a warning notice if your asset is still listed on the marketplace. This is important because you will need to cancel the listing before transferring the NFT.
LooksRare’s transfer feature also shows owners if they are about to transfer an NFT with a sale listing. This way, owners can be sure to cancel the listing before transferring their NFT.
Steps to Deleting an NFT from LooksRare
From the details page, go to the 3 dots menu and select the “Transfer” option.
Enter the burn address in the receiving address field.
Click on “Transfer” and wait for the transaction to be confirmed on the blockchain and you are done!
To Conclude
There are various reasons an NFT collector would want or need to delete an NFT. Dealing specifically with LooksRare, they could have been left with an NFT that was of no value due to it being a product of wash trading, or perhaps their staked LOOKS tokens didn’t quite reach the eligible trading rewards status or maybe they failed to do their own research on trading NFTs and just need to release a particular asset or selected collection.
Whatever the reason, LooksRare users have the option to delete their NFTs by way of transferring to the Ethereum burn address.
