What Is a CC0 NFT & How Does It Impact the NFT Community?

The NFT space is in full-launch mode with the release of more and more NFT projects. NFT development, however, remains in its infancy, which results in misconceptions and discussions about the technology. One of the most popular discussions is about CC0 NFTs. Here we explore the world of CC0 and CC0 NFTs to help you understand why some NFT owners choose to forego traditional intellectual property (IP) guidelines and place their NFTs in the public domain.

What Is CC0?

CC0 is a form of copyright in which creators waive all legal interest in what they make and instead move their works into the public domain.

Short for “Creative Commons Zero,” a CC0 license on intellectual property means “no rights reserved” — the intellectual property right owners have relinquished all copyrights to their work. Anyone can use CC0-licensed works for almost anything they want without worrying about infringing on someone’s copyright.

As far as NFTs go, NFT owners license their work CC0 to allow NFT holders to rework, build upon or use their work for multiple purposes, such as duplication, branding and marketing. For example, a CC0 NFT can be used as the logo of a product or company.

While this may seem counterintuitive, many NFT owners believe giving their creation a CC0 license will increase interest and inflate the value of the original work.

What Is a CC0 NFT?

A CC0 NFT is a Creative Commons Zero NFT in which the intellectual property rights of a work of digital content have been relinquished. Anyone can use CC0 NFTs with zero legal repercussions.

The term CC0 NFT comes from the “Creative Commons Zero” digital assets licensing model. The rise in the adoption of CC0 NFTs is similar to the open-source OS movement, in which Linux made its operating system free to use. Today, Linux powers nearly 90 percent of smartphones and has a market size of $16 billion.

Following this licensing model, the creators of CC0 NFTs expect their NFT artwork to achieve exponential usage and exposure, resulting in greater trading volume, reach and opportunities for more profit.

How Does a CC0 NFT Work?

NFTs are digital assets existing on a blockchain. Each NFT is unique and used as verification of ownership of a particular item.

Those unfamiliar with NFTs and digital collectibles get easily confused because owning an NFT doesn’t necessarily mean owning a physical asset. This makes it tough to understand what it is you actually “own” when buying an NFT.

Many NFT communities have solidified the value and increased the price of their NFTs by giving NFT holders access to exclusive merchandise, membership groups, events and other perks. In the NFT world, this is known as “utility.” However, many argue the real value of NFT ownership lies in the value of the intellectual property.

When someone purchases a CC0-licensed NFT, their ownership is recorded on the blockchain. So when you purchase a CC0 NFT (to simplify the term), you’re announcing your ownership of the work, which may give you the right to modify or use the digital art as you see fit.

From T-shirts to cereal boxes, CC0 NFTs allow you to reprint the associated art and stamp it over anything you want. As the most permissive Creative Common license, CC0 gives NFT creators the ability to share their work in its entirety with anyone for any purpose. 

For example, the IP rights to the world-famous CryptoPunks NFT were released after proprietor Yuga Labs picked up the CC0 license in August 2022. Now, CryptoPunks owners can use the NFTs in a variety of ways, including derivative projects.

In many cases, the value of an NFT isn’t in its attached metadata or JPEG. Rather, it lies in the record of ownership, which documents your right to use the IP however you wish.

Importance of CC0 NFTs

Copyright issues are a nuisance and source of frustration for just about everyone. With CC0 licensing, they’re becoming a thing of the past for NFTs. CC0 NFT creators can give others permission to use their digital art for a bevy of purposes, both personal and professional.

One reason CC0 NFTs are important is their ability to grow thriving communities. The collective effort of the community can result in the development of a new IP, with each member adding to its value. The power of this model isn't to be taken lightly, and many NFT communities flourish because of it.

The Impact of CC0 NFTs on NFT Communities

Whenever creative works and copyright are discussed, digital ownership is a hot topic and point of concern. Typically, when an artist creates music, art or literature, they own the rights to it. Only they have control over how the work is used.

The CC0 license has changed the game. As one of the most liberal and versatile forms of copyright licensing, CC0 NFTs allow creators to release their work to the public, where anything and everything is possible.

Recognizing this, more and more NFT creators are opting to go the CC0 NFT route to create not just an item, or catalog of items, but a movement with limitless potential. As you’ll discover, some of today’s most popular NFTs are CC0 NFTs that allow for products, brands and even physical stores to be built around them.

Advantages of CC0 NFTs

When it comes to CC0 NFTs, there are obvious and not-so-obvious advantages. Most are related to copyright, but the other benefits of CC0 NFTs are sometimes overlooked.

Copyright Issues

One of the biggest pros of CC0 NFTs is how they tackle copyright issues. That said, everyone recognizes artistic work has value. So, even though CC0 NFT creators allow others to use their work for free, they can also receive royalties and other revenues from it while they continue doing what they love — creating art. 

Traceability

CC0 NFTs can be easily traced, so there’s no way of masking who the creator was as it stays on the blockchain and in the public domain.

Increased Value

Another advantage of using a CC0 license is the increased awareness it can bring to an NFT, which often results in the project becoming its own brand. By creating and releasing an NFT, and permitting it to proliferate, the value of the project can appreciate substantially.

Disadvantages of CC0 NFTs

As you may have figured out, CC0 NFTs have some drawbacks too, most of which boil down to the lack of control over them.

Lack of Control

As a CC0 NFT owner, you can use artwork and commercialize it any way you want. However, since the IP is a part of the public domain, anyone can right-click-save the NFT and use it wherever and however they wish. In other words, CC0 NFT project owners have no control over how their work is used.

In comparison, NFTs with commercial IP rights restrict NFT holders from using anything other than the likeness of their specific NFT. As the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club can attest, going this route opens up a wide range of licensing options.

Low-Quality Work

The open nature of CC0 NFTs can lead to an abundance of unoriginal or low-quality work. Since anyone can create a CC0 NFT without worrying about copyright infringement, an overabundance of spinoffs can proliferate. And while some may become profitable, they can also flood the NFT market and obscure, dilute or destroy the unique quality of the original project.

Most Successful CC0 NFT Projects

Goblintown

Some call it ugly; some love it for its uniqueness. In either case, Goblintown is making waves in the NFT space. All of the collection’s 10,000 avatar NFTs are CC0, so NFT holders can commercialize them however they want. With several NFT whales endorsing the project, including Steve Aoki, the collection’s floor price sits at 1.9 ETH, and at one point, Goblintown derivatives accounted for a whopping 43.7 percent of trade volume on OpenSea.

Mfers

Launched by Sartoshi, Mfers may look like a meme project to some. Currently, the NFT has a defunct mint page, no elaborate website and no utility, along with other CC0 NFTs on this list. Sartoshi has also turned over the control of Mfers to its community. However, the digital stickmen took off like wildfire after originally minting at 0.7 ETH. Mfers currently has a 1.07 ETH floor price, and some rare pieces have fetched up to 11 ETH, taking the NFT’s popularity to another level.

Nouns

Nouns was one of the very first CC0 NFTs. It was launched by a group of well-known NFT collectors and approved for various projects, including a collaboration with Budweiser and the creation of Nouns glasses and a coffee brand. The result? Nouns is one of the most successful CC0 NFTs to date. It has made well over $100 million, with all daily auction ETH proceeds going to the Nouns DAO.

CrypToadz

In no time, CrypToadz has garnered top-tier status as an NFT project. Conceived by the prominent anonymous artist Gremplin, and derived from the iconic CryptoPunks, CrypToadz launched at 0.069 ETH. At press time, the floor reached 15 ETH, with the entire 6,969 NFT collection going for a staggering 41,200 ETH, or nearly $170 million. CrypToadz currently ranks among the top 15 traded NFT collections on OpenSea.

Rekt Guy

Rekt Guy launched in May 2022 as a PFP project created by former Wall Street trader and influential NFT collector Ovie Faruq, aka OSF. The collection is centered around OSF’s own character creation and personifies the feeling of being “rekt” — all too familiar in crypto culture. With big names like Snoop Dogg collecting the NFTs, the Rekt Guy project has become something of a status symbol and a true testament to the power of an influencer in hyping a collection.

Chain Runners

Chain Runners NFTs are entirely on-chain, so the art permanently exists on the Ethereum blockchain. Compared to some of the other CC0 NFTs on this list, Chain Runners got off to a slow start. It grew in popularity only when people began appreciating the quality and execution of the art. The current floor price for Chain Runners is around 0.24 ETH.

Loot

At first sight, Loot doesn’t look like much — an inventory of clothing, weapons and equipment that belongs in a video game — but that’s exactly the point. Loot supplies items to other builders to use in their projects. While there have been several copycat projects doing the same thing, Loot was the very first to pioneer such a concept. The NFT currently has a floor of 1.6 ETH.

CryptoDickButts

CryptoDickButts is another uniquely styled CC0 NFT project with no utilities or road maps. The project is simple with just the NFT art released to the public under its CC0 license. That said, there are three CryptoDickButts series. Series 1 and 2, the OG Collection, are selling for 6.5 ETH at minimum, while Series 3 NFTs are now selling for around 1 ETH. The project’s success is a prime example of the power of the NFT community and the increasing appeal of CC0 NFTs.

Tiny Dinos

Tiny Dinos is an omnichain CC0 NFT with no utility or road map — just little dinos. However, the project, which consists of 10,000 itsy-bitsy pixelated dinosaurs, does offer a few perks you won’t find with many other NFTs. Since Tiny Dinos is omnichain, the NFTs can be transferred between chains. NFT owners can also alter the backgrounds of the NFTs for added customization. Currently, the price is sitting at 0.102 ETH with a 24-hour trading volume of 1.05 ETH.

Blitmap

Like Tiny Dinos, Blitmap started as pixel art. However, the people behind the project soon expanded their ambitions by creating an NFT-driven storytelling project in which all decisions are made by the community. The Blitnauts collection launched first as heroes of their unique sci-fantasy ecosystem, but a Blitnauts rival drop and more are in the works. If you want to get in on Blitmaps and Blitnauts, it will cost you around 5.6 ETH and 2.6 ETH, respectively.

Larva Lads

Larva Lads is a successful on-chain CC0 NFT that spun off the wildly popular CryptoPunks collection. The project was minted to sound like the company (Larva Labs), which was behind the CryptoPunks release. The Larva Lads NFT was offered for free through an Etherscan contract. However, the collection currently has a floor price of around 0.1 Ether, which isn’t too shabby for a free mint.

The Future of CC0 NFTs

The NFT space is still in its infancy. As artists and creators continue becoming NFT owners and exploring ways of monetizing their content and digital assets, more and more NFT projects will launch and continue to increase their trading volume.

In the last two years, a new economic model has emerged for NFT artists and creators. Realizing that reliance on a single, small community to distribute one creation simply isn’t scalable, CC0 NFTs really took off.

This year, we’ve seen CC0 NFT projects spike in popularity. Collectors, artists, game developers and CC0 NFT holders are enjoying the ability to use their NFTs however they want.

A quick review of this past summer’s most popular NFT projects proves this fact. Goblintown went from being an obscure free mint to $130k (and counting) in sales in no time at all. Even in a bear market, the project is thriving, with 120k Twitter followers who continue showing their support for the eerily odd collection.

This and other successful CC0 NFT achievements have inspired a shift among NFT creators to the CC0 licensing model. Even the prolific XCOPY has transitioned to CC0, and more will likely take that road to enjoy the freedom and potential it affords.

Closing Thoughts

Many prominent CC0 NFT projects have topped the charts of NFT marketplaces in recent months. Now that you’ve learned about CC0 NFTs and how they work, you can appreciate the enormous potential they provide. If you’re interested in joining the ranks of other active investors by buying an NFT, a CC0 NFT may be the way to go.