These days, I’ve seen people arguing again about whether secondary markets should pay royalties. Honestly, I’m quite conflicted—on one hand, I think creators put in effort and need a steady cash flow to survive; on the other hand, the implementation of “mandatory royalties” almost always involves permissions and trust—either the market blocks the way or contracts leave a backdoor, ultimately turning into whoever controls the switch making the decisions.

As someone who gets itchy at the thought of authorization, I actually fear that people will get used to clicking “Agree” habitually, turning the creator economy into another toll booth. Recently, privacy coins, coin mixing, and compliance boundaries are also being torn apart, all pointing to the same issue: everyone wants freedom, but once responsibility and tracking are involved, they start looking for a bigger center to take the blame. Anyway, before I buy something now, I check the contract permissions first. As for royalties, if it’s voluntary, then it’s voluntary—don’t force it into my wallet.