Deep Dive
1. Emission Reduction & Protocol Rewards (January 2023)
Overview:
LooksRare entered its final token emission phase, slashing daily LOOKS rewards by 47% (from 150 to 80 LOOKS per block) to curb inflation and transition toward organic growth. Protocol rewards for stakers dropped to 122,850 LOOKS/day, while listing/trading rewards were halved.
The update aimed to reduce sell pressure from token incentives and align long-term sustainability. Team and treasury allocations were locked and staked to signal commitment.
What this means:
This is neutral for LOOKS because reduced emissions could stabilize prices by lowering inflation, but diminished rewards risked short-term user attrition. The focus on organic volume signaled confidence in platform utility beyond incentives.
(Source)
2. Zero Royalty Model (October 2022)
Overview:
LooksRare removed enforced creator royalties, instead directing 0.5% of the 2% protocol fee to creators. Buyers could opt to pay royalties, while sellers received 95% of trading rewards to offset fees.
The change responded to industry-wide royalty erosion, balancing trader savings with creator support via fee-sharing.
What this means:
This is bullish for LOOKS because lower seller fees improved competitiveness against rivals like OpenSea, while partial fee-sharing retained creator incentives. However, reliance on buyer goodwill for royalties introduced uncertainty.
(Source)
Conclusion
LooksRare’s last major updates in late 2022 and early 2023 focused on sustainability via reduced emissions and fee restructuring, but no recent code changes are documented. How might the platform adapt to 2025’s multichain NFT ecosystems dominated by rivals like OpenSea’s OS2?