Jury convicts former OpenSea manager in NFT-insider trading case

The previous OpenSea manager who was accused of expert trading of NFTs has been convicted on May 3 of wire scams and cash laundering in a New York federal court, according to a report from Reuters.According to district attorneys, Nathaniel Chastain, a former Product Manager at OpenSea, was in charge of selecting which NFTs would be included on the sites non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.After making these choices, he regularly acquired these NFTs and after that resold them after they had been featured, district attorneys said. He was charged with wire scams and cash laundering on June 1 in connection with these alleged deals. OpenSeas web page displaying featured NFTs. Source: OpenSeaThe trial started on April 24 and has actually been enjoyed carefully by legal representatives specializing in crypto-related issues. Some legal experts have actually argued that the result of the case may affect whether NFTs are considered securities.According to the May 3 report, defense lawyer Daniel Filor argued in the trials closing statements that Chastain wasnt guilty due to the fact that he had never ever been told the info was supposed to be confidential, mentioning “Nobody informed Nate that he couldnt utilize or share that details.”By contrast, prosecuting attorney Allison Nichols argued that Chastain knew he was breaking the law. She declared that he used confidential OpenSea accounts to make the trades, implying that he hesitated of being caught.”He concealed what he was doing,” Nichols reportedly informed the jury in her rebuttal. “He understood that he had actually broken OpenSeas confidentiality arrangement.”Related: Crypto exchanges tackle expert trading after recent convictionsIt marks the very first time a person has actually been slapped for using privileged knowledge to trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). A former staff member of Coinbase, Ishan Wahi, and his bro Nikhil were also charged with insider trading of cryptocurrencies in a different case in July. Because case, Nikhil Wahi pled guilty on September 12.