The leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea, has reportedly parted ways with their former head of product, Nate Chastain. It was previously revealed that Chastain profited from insider trading of NFTs.
Responsible move forward of crypto community
As a result, the company believes it has a “strong commitment” to move the crypto community forward in a responsible manner. “The behavior of one of our employees violates this obligation. Yesterday we asked for and accepted his resignation.”
Additionally, OpenSea reportedly engaged an unspecified third party to conduct a thorough review of the incident. They will also make recommendations on how to strengthen current controls. Although it has been confirmed that the investigation has started, it is not yet known when it will be completed. In fact, no specific timetable for completion has been released.
Level playing field for everyone
The company further reported the following about a level playing field for everyone on their platform:
“As a marketplace at the forefront of this new space, we want OpenSea to be a level playing field for buyers, sellers, makers, collectors, developers, and those new to the space. We are incredibly grateful to our community for the support and will continue to invest in practices and policies that keep our platform open and transparent. We will continue to proactively provide updates as we develop our policies and increase transparency in everything we do.
Last Wednesday, OpenSea confirmed that an employee with privileged information could have profited from the sale of NFTs. Chastain was subsequently accused of buying NFTs from collections featured on OpenSea’s main page. Chastain reportedly set these up here himself. Public data from the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain further suggested that Chastain used several additional “burner” wallets in addition to his main one to trade the NFTs.
The appearance of the NFTs on the main page has reportedly allowed Chastain to drive up their prices. This allowed him to sell the NFTs for a price significantly higher than their purchase value. The resulting winnings, paid out in Ethereum, would then have been funneled back into Chastain’s main wallet. It is still unknown what the next move of the crypto company will be.