{"id":32880,"date":"2022-06-02T00:21:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T00:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/us-charges-opensea-ex-employee-in-first-nft-insider-trading-case\/"},"modified":"2022-06-02T00:21:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T00:21:20","slug":"us-charges-opensea-ex-employee-in-first-nft-insider-trading-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/us-charges-opensea-ex-employee-in-first-nft-insider-trading-case\/","title":{"rendered":"US charges OpenSea ex-employee in first NFT insider trading case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-0\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) &#8211; US prosecutors in Manhattan on Wednesday charged a former product manager at OpenSea, the largest online marketplace for non-fungible tokens, with insider trading, the first such case involving digital assets.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-1\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">Nathaniel Chastain, 31, of Manhattan, was accused of secretly buying 45 NFTs on 11 separate occasions based on confidential information that the tokens, or others by the same creator, would soon be featured on OpenSea&#8217;s home page.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-2\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">Prosecutors said Chastain chose which NFTs to feature, and sold his NFTs shortly after they were featured, typically for two to five times what he paid.<\/p>\n<div class=\"registration-prompt__container__2jf5K registration-prompt__inline__2WDU- article-body__element__2p5pI article-body__inline-registration-prompt__1-N9W\">\n<div class=\"registration-prompt__text-content__o0YET\">\n<h5 data-testid=\"Heading\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__white__3r45t text__medium__1kbOh text__heading_5__2krbj heading__base__2T28j heading__heading_5__2A2g- registration-prompt__heading__3fq-h\">Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com<\/h5>\n<p><button data-testid=\"Button\" class=\"button__button__2Ecqi button__secondary__18moI button__round__1nYLA text-button__container__3q3zX registration-prompt__button-text__3kTtQ\" type=\"button\"><\/p>\n<p><span data-testid=\"Text\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__inherit-color__3208F text__bold__2-8Kc text__default__UPMUu text-button__medium__113uZ\">Register<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-3\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">In one instance, Chastain allegedly more than quadrupled his money by purchasing the NFT &#8220;Spectrum of a Ramenfication Theory&#8221; on Sept.  14, 2021, and selling it early the next morning.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-4\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">Prosecutors said the scheme ran from June to September 2021, with Chastain transacting through anonymous digital currency wallets and accounts at OpenSea, also known as Ozone Networks Inc.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-5\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">&#8220;NFTs might be new, but this type of criminal scheme is not,&#8221; US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan said in a statement.  &#8220;Today&#8217;s charges demonstrate the commitment of this office to stamping out insider trading &#8211; whether it occurs on the stock market or the blockchain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-6\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">Chastain pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to wire fraud and money laundering charges, each carrying a maximum 20-year prison term, before US Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses in Manhattan.  Bond was set at $ 100,000.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-7\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">&#8220;When all the facts are known, we are confident he will be exonerated,&#8221; Chastain&#8217;s lawyer David Miller said in an email.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-8\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">Non-fungible tokens are unique digital assets, reflecting ownership of files such as artwork, other images, videos and text, and recorded on a blockchain.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-9\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">The NFT market totaled about $ 40 billion in 2021, and more than $ 37 billion from January to April 2022 though transaction activity has been stabilizing, according to the blockchain data firm Chainalysis Inc.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-10\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">&#8220;When we learned of Nate&#8217;s behavior, we initiated an investigation and ultimately asked him to leave the company,&#8221; OpenSea said in a statement about Chastain.  &#8220;His behavior di lui was in violation of our employee policies and in direct conflict with our core values \u200b\u200band principles.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"registration-prompt__container__2jf5K registration-prompt__inline__2WDU- article-body__element__2p5pI\">\n<div class=\"registration-prompt__text-content__o0YET\">\n<h5 data-testid=\"Heading\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__white__3r45t text__medium__1kbOh text__heading_5__2krbj heading__base__2T28j heading__heading_5__2A2g- registration-prompt__heading__3fq-h\">Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com<\/h5>\n<p><button data-testid=\"Button\" class=\"button__button__2Ecqi button__secondary__18moI button__round__1nYLA text-button__container__3q3zX registration-prompt__button-text__3kTtQ\" type=\"button\"><\/p>\n<p><span data-testid=\"Text\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__inherit-color__3208F text__bold__2-8Kc text__default__UPMUu text-button__medium__113uZ\">Register<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span data-testid=\"Text\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__default__UPMUu sign-off__text__PU3Aj\">Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York;  Additional reporting by Luc Cohen in New York;  Editing by Richard Chang, Bernard Orr<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI\">Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) &#8211; US prosecutors in Manhattan on Wednesday charged a former product manager at OpenSea, the largest online marketplace for non-fungible tokens, with insider trading, the first such case involving digital assets. Nathaniel Chastain, 31, of Manhattan, was accused of secretly buying 45 NFTs on 11 separate occasions based on confidential &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/us-charges-opensea-ex-employee-in-first-nft-insider-trading-case\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">US charges OpenSea ex-employee in first NFT insider trading case<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8],"tags":[56,77,78,6212,15976,250,1596,1597,5475,255,256,5474,4004,74,2303,84,85,1598,34,434,264,258,1599,1602,267,268,64,4003,6961,3135,1847,1594,15977,272,1819,1603,2298,1601,276,284,52,285,75,57,9394],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/resizer\/hpXqT-255ZpHQ67Y6Mgw0BCiFfM=\/728x381\/smart\/filters:quality(80)\/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com\/reuters\/4BH5WGUZUJLQTCISUORPHPPYE4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}