Ex OpenSea head of product charged with insider trading
Nathaniel Chastain, former head of product at non-fungible token (NFT) platform OpenSea, has been charged with money laundering and wire fraud.
Chastain is accused of making money using privileged information. He is said to have been responsible for NFTs that will be featured on the Open Sea homepage and knowing that, he was secretly buying these NFTs and then reselling them 2-5 times more than the initial price.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams comments on the indictment, “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.”
Kanye West makes U-turn on NFTs
Kanye West, who legally changed his name to YE, appears to also have changed his mind about digital collectibles. Earlier this year, he shared a photo on his Instagram asking people to stop asking him about NFTs, specifying that he’s focusing on “building real products in the real world.”
According to a patent lawyer Josh Gerben, Kanye West’s Mascotte Holdings Inc. filed 17 trademark applications on May 27, some of which describe “metaverse experiences” and “non-fungible assets,” with one filing of an “online marketplace for buyers of crypto and/digital collectibles, currencies, tokens and assets.”
Kanye West has filed 17 new trademark applications around his YEEZUS name.
The filings indicate an intent to launch YEEZUS-branded amusement parks, NFT’s, toys and more. 👇#KanyeWest pic.twitter.com/bI7RkA1Pk3
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) June 1, 2022
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Kaloh.xyz
Kaloh is a software developer, data scientist and product manager who writes and curates a weekly newsletter about NFTs and metaverse. They focus on insightful and educational materials.
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How to flip NFTs (for beginners)
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In other headlines
Facebook Goes Full Metaverse With META Stock Ticker Change –– Decrypt
FTX surpassed Coinbase as second-biggest centralized crypto exchange in May –– The Block
Solana suffered its second outage in a month, sending price plunging –– CNBC
