- Nate Chastain, the OpenSea executive who used his position for financial gain, has quit
- Former Head of Product Chastain bought NFTs before they were due to be listed on the site and then sold at a profit
- Chastain has yet to comment on the matter
The OpenSea executive who bought up NFTs before they were listed on the site’s front page then sold for a profit has, unsurprisingly, left the company. Officially Nate Chastain resigned yesterday, but the truth is that he would have been pushed had he not jumped first, having brought OpenSea into disrepute. OpenSea acted quickly after being faced with blockchain evidence that Chastain was insider trading for financial gain.
Chastain Used Inside Knowledge for Profit
Chastain was caught by Twitter user Zuwu who discovered that Chastain had secret wallets that showed a clear pattern of buying up unknown NFTs before selling them again after they were added to the NFT giant’s front page, often making thousands of dollars in profit with each one.
OpenSea were quick to act following the revelations, publishing a blog post in which founder and CEO Devin Finzer called the news of Chastain’s activity “incredibly disappointing” and announced that “an immediate and thorough third party review of this incident” would take place, with Chastain having no defence, unless he could somehow prove that the wallets did not belong to him. No one else would have had his level of insider knowledge however, with the purchases and sales of specific NFTs timing perfectly with their position on the front page of OpenSea.
OpenSea Left With Little Choice
The evidence left Finzer and co with little option but to get rid of Chastain, with the former executive jumping before he could be pushed according to an updated version of the same blog post:
The behavior of one of our employees violated that obligation and, yesterday, we requested and accepted his resignation.
Chastain’s Twitter profile now references the fact that he has left OpenSea, but he has yet to comment on the matter. This is unlikely however given that many employers insist on a period of silence following such a departure.
