Ex OpenSea Exec Insider Trading Scandal

Welcome to The Drop NFT Newsletter. Breaking NFT news, project breakdowns, & artist spotlights - We do the heavy lifting so you don't have to! Join our Discord to win raffles and allow list spots!

What's Dropping ⚡️

• BYOPills massive metaverse will be built on Unreal Engine. This is exciting news, as the already fantastic-looking demos will flourish on this ultra-realistic engine.

• NounsDAO proves to be one of the most successful projects over the recent months, with massive growth in their DAO and huge sales daily.

• You may have heard of the recent Optimism token claim, which is putting some liquid into the pockets of frequent DAO voters. Check your eligibility here.

• BAYC teams up with Tokenproof for entries to ApeFest. Holders can verify today!

• Minecraft-esque NFT Worlds parcels look to onboard Minecraft players into the metaverse. Here is an interesting thread on the matter.

• AJ Vaynerchuk drops Local Weather NFT collection in hopes to build a community behind the sports drink set to release this winter. Check out this exclusive flavor for NFT holders. Mint is live.

• Ex Open Sea executive under investigation for insider trading. (much more on this below)

• A new NFT-inspired restaurant will be opening in San Francisco, bringing some much-needed metaverse culture to the city. SHO Group is the founder.

• Akuma Dragonz are receiving massive attention as they gear up for launch. This cross-chain project is ready to fly.

• The Lokals is an insane animated film infused with NFTs from award-winning filmmakers.

OpenSea Exec Insider Trading 🚨

Although NFTs aren’t designated as financial securities under the Securities Act of 1934, that didn’t stop the Southern District of New York from charging Nathaniel Chastain with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his NFT insider trading. Traders took to Twitter and posted about Nate’s suspicious behavior in September. Shortly after OpenSea’s CEO Devin Finzer published a blog that corroborated these charges, announced Nate’s resignation, and ensured that OpenSea will make sure that their employees can not front-run information in the future.

Because he misappropriated confidential information he is being charged with fraud, and because he tried to conceal and disguise the capital he acquired from performing fraud he is being charged with money laundering. The recently instantiated National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in conjunction with the FBI and Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force has collaborated to see these prosecutions through. Nathan purchased 45 NFTs in eleven separate instances before he knew they would be featured on OpenSea’s homepage in order to profit off of the volume and interest that such a feature generates.

According to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams:

“NFTs might be new, but this type of criminal scheme is not. As alleged, Nathaniel Chastain betrayed OpenSea by using its confidential business information to make money for himself. Today’s charges demonstrate the commitment of this Office to stamping out insider trading – whether it occurs on the stock market or the blockchain.”

NFT NYC Just Around The Corner 🔥

Congratulations, fellow NFTers! We made it to June. And with that comes a highly anticipated event that we have all been hearing about: NFT NYC.

NFT NYC is going to be held in Times Square from June 20th to the 23rd at the Marriott Marquis. This conference has been promoted as the biggest NFT event of the year, and its lineup speaks for itself. Along with the 1500+ speakers that are scheduled, there are some big names, such as David Packman (managing partner at CoinFund). Our very own Gannon Breslin (founder of The Drop) will also be speaking at the conference.

The true beauty behind this event is the ability to connect individuals in an in-person setting. Most of us communicate with one another virtually, as Web3 requires us to. To remedy that issue, this event will feature impromptu gatherings being put together by individual project teams, and many more networking shindigs. The vibes are going to be immaculate.

Let’s face it, the NFT space is currently in a bear cycle. There’s no denying that. But, with events like NFT NYC, the exposure that the NFT community receives is profound. And coupled with the high optimism of individuals who live and breathe this space, this conference will hopefully start a new chapter in the NFT industry. And see you June 20th. The Drop will be there.

Meme Drop 💧

Recent Articles 📰

• Goblintwon Floor Hits 5 ETH

• The Tezos NFT Hype Is Real

• ENS Domains Selling Out

• Streetlab.io - A Full Breakdown

• Seth Green's Show Cancelled

• Reptilian Renegades Rug

• Not Your Wallet, Not Your NFTs

Disclaimer: The Drop DOES NOT provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only. The Drop is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Trading any crypto-related asset is extremely risky and could result in significant capital losses.

Follow the team:

Gannon Breslin, Kayla Kilbride, CryptoVonDoom, Naveed Lalani, Alex Reed, Naman Patel

Want to advertise your brand to 20,500+ readers?

Submit a form here.

Want to get your project featured in our Wednesday Up & Coming Section?

Submit a form here.