Wednesday

<div class="textg" style="text-align: justify; font-weight: lighter; line-height: 1.3em; font-size: 15px; border-radius: 3px; color: #80909a; padding: 10px; background-color: #F4F6F9; margin-bottom: 15px;">
 Neither the author, Tim Fries, nor this website, The Tokenist, provide financial advice. Please consult our&nbsp;<a href="https://tokenist.com/terms-of-service/" style="text-decoration:underline;color:#3c7b7b" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" class="deco-link">website policy</a>&nbsp;prior to making financial decisions.
</div> 
<p class="has-drop-cap">According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/ex-opensea-manager-convicted-nft-insider-trading-case-2023-05-03/" target="_blank" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" class="deco-link">a report</a> from Wednesday, May 3rd, Nathaniel Chastain was recently convicted of insider trading. Chastain is a former product manager at the NFT marketplace OpenSea and used his knowledge of which projects would be featured on the front page to purchase pieces from said collections and later sell them for a significant profit.</p> 
<h3 id="nathaniel-chastain-convicted-of-fraud-money-laundering-and-insider-trading">Nathaniel Chastain Convicted Of Fraud, Money Laundering, and Insider Trading</h3> 
<p>This Wednesday, Nathaniel Chastain, OpenSea’s former product manager, was convicted of fraud, money laundering, and insider trading. Chastain allegedly made about $50,000 in profit from his scheme and his case is generally considered to be the first-ever insider trading case involving digital assets. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, however, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/statement-us-attorney-damian-williams-conviction-nathaniel-chastain" target="_blank" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" class="deco-link">commented</a> that despite the fact that the involved assets are novel, the operation itself was not.</p> 
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> 
 <p>Nathaniel Chastain exploited his advanced knowledge of which NFTs would be featured on OpenSea’s website to make profitable trades for himself.&nbsp; Although this case involved trades in novel crypto assets, there was nothing particularly innovative about his conduct — it was fraud.&nbsp; A jury has found that Chastain is guilty of using inside information for his own personal gain, and he now faces time in federal prison.</p> 
</blockquote> 
<p>Chastain was originally charged in June 2022. He made a bid to have the case dismissed in August arguing that the charges were based on “ill-founded applications of criminal law.” Chastain’s lawyer’s claim that NFTs can’t be considered “property”—therefore making the indictment invalid—was <a href="https://tokenist.com/bid-of-openseas-ex-employee-to-have-nft-wire-fraud-case-dismissed-fails/" rel="dofollow" class="deco-link">dismissed by the court</a> in October.</p> 
<div class="cta-referral"> 
 <img src="https://tokenist.com/wp-content/themes/thetokenist/assets/img/del/cta-referral-1.png" alt="" class="cta-referral__img" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> 
 <div class="cta-referral__text"> 
  <p>Join our&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/thetokenist" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Telegram group</a>&nbsp;and never miss a breaking digital asset story.</p> 
 </div> 
</div> 
<h3 id="the-case-against-nathaniel-chastain">The Case Against Nathaniel Chastain</h3> 
<p>The accusations against OpenSea’s former product manager first emerged in late 2021. Half a year later, in June 2022, Chastain was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-employee-nft-marketplace-charged-first-ever-digital-asset-insider-trading-scheme" target="_blank" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" class="deco-link">arrested and charged</a> with insider trading. According to today’s conviction, he abused his position as product manager to greatly increase personal wealth.</p> 
<p>According to the original indictment, Chastain would regularly purchase NFTs from collections he knew would be featured on the marketplace’s front page and then sell them after their price spiked. OpenSea <a href="https://opensea.io/blog/announcements/employee-information-use-at-opensea/" target="_blank" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" class="deco-link">published a statement</a> on the matter in September 2022 and used the opportunity to distance itself from the former product manager.</p> 
<p>At the time, the marketplace stated that Chastain was forced out of the company for his wrongdoing, and reaffirmed its commitment to its community. The case is likely to set a precedent as it is, as the DoJ described it, the “first ever digital asset insider trading scheme.” A report from May 2022 stated that cryptocurrency-related insider trading <a href="https://tokenist.com/crypto-insider-trading-generated-1-7m-in-profits-since-february-2021-data-reveals/" rel="dofollow" class="deco-link">generated more than $1.7 million</a> since February 2021.</p> 
<div class="cta-sub js__cta-sub"> 
 <div class="cta-sub__start" data-step="1"> 
  <div class="cta-sub__title">
   <strong>Finance is changing.</strong>
  </div> 
  <div class="cta-sub__subtitle">
   Learn how, with Five Minute Finance.
  </div> 
  <div class="cta-sub__excerpt">
   A weekly newsletter that covers the big trends in FinTech and Decentralized Finance.
  </div> <button type="button" class="btn">Try it out (for free)</button> 
 </div> 
 <div class="cta-sub__form" data-step="2" style="display: none;"> 
  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=QcLhh&amp;webforms_id=zw3Wv"></script> 
 </div> 
 <div class="cta-sub__result" data-step="3" style="display: none;"> 
  <div class="cta-sub__title">
   Awesome
  </div> 
  <div class="cta-sub__caption">
   You’ve subscribed.
  </div> 
  <div class="cta-sub__greeting">
   You’re well on your way to being in the know.
  </div> 
 </div> 
</div> 
<p><strong><em>Do you think the Wednesday verdict will usher in a more aggressive crackdown on cryptocurrency insider trading? Let us know in the comments below.</em></strong></p> 
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://tokenist.com/openseas-former-product-manager-convicted-of-insider-trading/">OpenSea’s Former Product Manager Convicted Of Insider Trading</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://tokenist.com">Tokenist</a>.</p>

OpenSea’s Former Product Manager Convicted Of Insider Trading

目錄

TokenInsight

在 2023年5月3日發表的其他文章

Rebrand to Ado Protocol complete

Cards of Ethernity 0.4.0 Patch Notes

Sparklo (SPRK) Overshadows Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Quant (QNT) Following Price Crash

Robert F. Kennedy - war on crypto may have caused the bank crisis

Fed increases interest rate by 25bps, asserts ‘US banking system is sound and resilient’

Gokhstein Says He’s Still Long-Term Shiba Inu Holder Despite PEPE Epic Surge

訂閱免費電子報，每天收取加密貨幣最新動態！