In Brief:
- OpeanSea confirms the insider trading of NFTs by its employee.
- Nate Chastain bought NFTs to take profit before it shows on the homepage through inside information.
- The company implemented a policy to stop team members from trading NFTs while they are being promoted.
OpenSea has admitted that one of its employees traded the NFTs using the company’s confidential and inside information. Nate Chastain, head of product at OpeanSea, has been accused of taking advantage of the platform’s front-page NFT drops before its release.
Yesterday, a twitter user accused Nate of using secret Ethereum wallets to purchase the NFT collection before it goes live and after gaining some interest on assets, he was selling it.
A Twitter user cited transaction details and said that Chastain seems to be selling these pieces “shortly after the front-page-hype spike for profits.”
The user who came to this incident in highlight had linked to a few transactions from accounts linked back to the executive on the public blockchain including an NFT drop that was, at the time, actively listed on the front page of the platform.
OpenSea admitted this incident and stated in a blog “learned that one of our employees purchased items that they knew were set to display on our front page before they appeared there publicly.”
The blog added that, “This is incredibly disappointing. We want to be clear that this behavior does not represent our values as a team. We are taking this very seriously and are conducting an immediate and thorough review of this incident so that we have a full understanding of the facts and additional steps we need to take.”
OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer posted a tweet about this incident “We’re conducting a thorough review of yesterday’s incident and are committed to doing the right thing for OpenSea users”. OpenSea didn’t disclose the status of Chastain’s employment with the company.
After this incident the company had taken action and implemented a policy to stop their team members from buying and selling NFTs while they are being promoted. They also cannot use confidential information to purchase or sell NFTs.
OpenSea has ensured their users that they will bring transparency and trust from creators and collectors.
