LooksRare is an Ethereum NFT marketplace with a smart-contract trading protocol. Its V2 design uses signed maker orders stored off-chain; a taker can match an order and settle the NFT-for-payment exchange on-chain. The protocol is non-custodial, but that does not make every part of the marketplace interface or order service decentralized.
How LooksRare works
In a typical sale, a seller signs an offer to sell an NFT for ETH or an ERC-20 token. A buyer accepts the offer, and the matching transaction transfers the approved assets between the parties. LooksRare’s V2 protocol documentation describes maker orders as off-chain EIP-712 signatures and the matched transaction as an on-chain settlement. Users still need to review token approvals, contract addresses, and order details before signing.
Fees, creator payments, and rewards
Fees and creator payments have changed over the marketplace’s lifetime. At the V2 launch on April 6, 2023, LooksRare said its protocol fee had fallen from 2% to 0.5% and that creator rebates were being removed at that time. That launch announcement is historical; it should not be treated as a promise that every current listing has the same fee or royalty settings. Check the fee and creator-payment details shown for the specific collection and transaction.
LooksRare also distributed LOOKS through trading incentives during its early period. Its documentation says Trading Rewards were discontinued in September 2023, while Listing Rewards had ended earlier that year. Those programs explain some of the marketplace’s early activity, but are not current rewards for new trades.
Historical volume and wash-trading estimates
Trading incentives can reward volume without proving that the underlying NFTs changed hands between independent buyers. CoinGecko’s historical research used transaction-pattern filters to estimate wash trading on NFT marketplaces. It estimated that 98.5% of LooksRare’s January 2022 volume and 80.8% of its February 2023 unadjusted volume met its wash-trading criteria. These are dated estimates from a particular methodology, not a measurement of every transaction or of LooksRare’s current activity.
History
- January 2022: LooksRare launched with the LOOKS token and trading incentives.
- April 2023: LooksRare V2 launched with a lower stated protocol fee and changes to creator rebates.
- September 2023: LooksRare’s documentation records the end of Trading Rewards.
Related Terms
See Also
- OpenSea’s Trading Cards: Digital and Physical Collectibles Explained
- Blur Is Shutting Down. What Does That Mean for NFT Marketplaces?
- What Is Tokenomics?
Sources
- LooksRare V2 Protocol Overview — official developer documentation on signed orders, on-chain settlement, and the non-custodial protocol.
- LooksRare V2 launch announcement — the project’s April 2023 statement about the fee change and creator rebates at launch.
- Trading Rewards — LooksRare Docs — the project’s archive notice that trading rewards ended in September 2023 and listing rewards ended in March 2023.
- Total NFT Wash Trading, 2022–2023 — CoinGecko — historical estimates and methodology for wash-trading volume across major marketplaces.