First Ever Case of NFT Insider Trading ; OpenSea Ex- Exec Indicted
Who would have imagined that selling images of cartoon gorillas would be illegal?
A former product manager of the non-fungible token exchange OpenSea was found guilty of money laundering and fraud for utilizing insider information about which assets would be highlighted on the site’s front page to trade NFTs. This lawsuit against Nathaniel Chastain was dubbed the first insider trading conspiracy employing digital assets by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The last 24 hours on OpenSea saw trades worth over $4.5 million, according to reports. As the website’s head of product, Chastain was in charge of selecting the NFTs that would be shown on the homepage of the exchange.
The first-Ever instance of NFT Insider Trading
The firm was regarded as the largest non-fungible token marketplace and valued at $13.3 billion by January 2022. The largest platform in the world for trading and buying non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are special digital goods kept on a blockchain, is OpenSea.
The OpenSea marketplace’s daily trade volume touched a record $2.7 billion on May 1, 2022, but just over four months later it had dropped by 99%. The largest online marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), OpenSea, features a former head of product who was found guilty of wire fraud in the US Department of Justice’s first-ever case for insider trading of digital assets.
At the height of the NFT boom, 32-year-old Nathaniel Chastain worked for New York startup OpenSea from January to September of 2021. When a Twitter user by the name of Zuwu posted a thread in September of 2021 claiming that Chastain had been using his position of power at OpenSea to buy NFTs just before they were added to the platform and then selling them at a gain once they became open to purchase, the allegations against him were first made public.
He was charged with surreptitiously creating anonymous identities to purchase valuable digital cartoon drawings that he knew would be sold on OpenSea’s marketplace. Before being recognized by the firm, Chastain would purchase the tokens, wait for them to be listed and for the price to increase due to demand, and then sell the digital assets for a higher price than he paid for them, keeping the profit.
Devin Finzer, the CEO of OpenSea, commissioned an outside investigation into such actions, which resulted in Chastain’s termination for breaking company standards. Following a tip to the feds, Chastain was charged with money laundering and one count of wire fraud.
According to court documents, Chastain has now been convicted of both offenses by a jury. Nathaniel Chastain exploited his advanced knowledge of which NFTs would be featured on OpenSea‘s website to make profitable trades for himself, although this case featured trades in cutting-edge crypto assets, his behavior wasn’t particularly unusual; it was a fraud. Chastain is now facing years in federal prison after a jury convicted him guilty of utilizing inside knowledge for his gain.
When Chastain allegedly sold NFTs for up to five times their original cost in Ether, he reportedly made just $57,000 in profit. Chastain argued that the government would need to show that crypto assets are a type of securities or commodities to charge for insider trading—a legal question that has not yet been settled. Judges in a federal court in Manhattan disagreed, though, and decided to proceed with a jury trial.
Michael J. Driscoll (FBI’s assistant director in charge) stated that Chastain utilized his knowledge of sensitive information to buy several NFTs before they appeared on the company’s homepage; he engaged in an old-time classic manner to commit insider trading.
With the introduction of any new financial tool, such as non-fungible tokens enabled by blockchains, some individuals will want to profit from flaws. Actors who choose to use this kind of market manipulation will continue to be vigorously pursued by the FBI, he said.
Shocks throughout the NFT industry
The NFT community has been shaken by Chastain’s conviction, which has also caused concerns about the platform’s security and reliability. OpenSea has promised to strengthen its security and transparency controls in reaction to the controversy and has vowed to crack down on insider trading and other illicit activity on the platform.
In recent years, the NFT market has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity as a result of large investments made by several individuals in digital assets. The OpenSea affair has brought to light the dangers and drawbacks of this developing market and has underlined the requirement for more monitoring and transparency in the NFT industry.
The controversy has brought attention to the NFT sector’s need for increased accountability and transparency, as well as the significance of safeguarding consumers and investors against dishonest business practices.
Conclusion
In conclusion, OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, has suffered greatly as a consequence of Nate Chastain’s indictment. When Chastain is sentenced in August, it’s unlikely that she will receive the maximum punishment. On April 24, Chastain went on trial in Manhattan after attempting and failing to get the case dismissed for procedural reasons. The jury decided that Chastain was guilty on both counts after deliberating for three days. The maximum sentence for Chastain is 40 years in jail.
Proofread & Published By Naveenika Chauhan
