by Plagiarism issues have forced the foremost NFT marketplace, Cent, to shut down operations. Cent is the first NFT platform that enables people to sell NFTs through their tweets. An official statement credited to the company’s chief executive, Cameron Hejazi, stated that some users are minting NFTs using other people’s content while some are selling the NFTs of other persons. However, “we will soon resume the sale of tweet NFTs.”
Cent’s Plagiarism Struggles
Cent became widely popular as it was the first platform through Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, who sold his first tweet as an NFT and realized nearly $3m. However, the platform remarked on several issues facing the NFT sector, but plagiarism issues trump other issues.
Hejazi further disclosed that the marketplace hasn’t been operating for nearly 10 days. But, transactions involving NFT tweets remain active. Hejazi further said, “we have decided to stop operations temporarily to find the right solution to the recent rise in illegal activities happening on the platform.”
The CEO also revealed that it had banned several accounts for this same offense. But as one account is banned, three more accounts make the same offense. Hence, the company had to suspend all activities on the platform temporarily.
Other NFT Platforms Face Similar Issues
Hejazi further acknowledged that Cent (with its 155k subscribers) isn’t the only NFT marketplace facing this issue. He also said that OpenSea and other NFT platforms are experiencing similar problems, but each platform chose to solve it as it deems fit.
Last month, OpenSea (one of the top NFT platforms globally) had to limit the number of NFTs its users can mint using the free NFT minting tool. OpenSea cited abuse of the tool (especially the creation of plagiarised, spammed, and fake NFTs) as its reason for placing the limit. However, it reversed its decision following several backlashes from the NFT community.
The amount of plagiarized works in this industry is alarming, and that’s to be expected following the rising popularity of the NFT sector and the huge sales generated from these digital collectibles. Cent, OpenSea, and other NFT marketplaces are developing tools that can help determine the authentic ownership of any NFT.
Hejazi further remarked that his firm might need to use a centralized solution to this plagiarism issue in the short term and open the platform. Then, develop a long-term solution before the short-term solution becomes ineffective.
More Issues For The NFT Industry
Aside from plagiarism issues, there have also been money laundering cases through NFTs. Today, the HMRC (UK’s top tax regulator) announced that it had seized NFTs worth nearly $1.9b as those involved attempted to get away from the taxman by hiding their assets as NFTs. While it is the first time any regulator would seize NFT because of any criminal activity, it won’t be the last.
Many industry analysts opine that this seizure would prompt regulators in other nations to probe NFT-related transactions in their countries. The Crypto policies being discussed may need to be modified to include regulation of NFTs.
