The R Roundup: OpenSea Insider Trading — Issue #39
There is no doubt that over the past calendar year, we have witnessed the extreme emergence of digital art as a whole with large companies filling for NFT trademarks as well as the overall flow of money reaching unimaginable peaks. The argument could be presented that a pivotal catalyst to that movement lies within the access that Opensea and other NFT marketplaces have provided.
It was recently reported that despite their success, some investigations have pointed toward key members of Opensea’s team in the past being prosecuted on the grounds of insider trading.
Former Opensea product manager, Nathaniel Chastain was charged by U.S prosecutors on Wednesday 1st June based on being accused of secretly buying 45 NFTs on 11 different occasions based on confidential information that those collections would be featured on Opensea’s home page further driving attention and interest in the collections he had purchased.
The prosecutors claim that Chastian would then list the NFTs for up to “two to 5 times more than what he paid” shortly after the collections were listed on the featured page.
Despite the prosecutors acknowledging that NFTs are a new form of technology and transaction, they were extremely cumbersome in their response to this scheme claiming that “NFTs might be new, but this type of criminal scheme is not”. They also claim that this has been ongoing from June to September 2021 while Chastian was operating from anonymous wallets and accounts on the Opensea platform.
Despite pleading not guilty, Opensea claimed in a statement that “His behaviour was in violation of our employee policies and in direct conflict with our core values and principles”.
Japan Set Stablecoin Limitations⛔️🎌
Following the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, the regulatory framework for stablecoins has seen a global influx from legislators to prevent this sort of situation from wiping out billions of investors again. Japan is the latest to intensify its legislation through how stablecoins are issued.
They passed a parliament bill to ban the issuance of stablecoins by institutions that aren’t banks. The bill limits the issuance of stablecoins to licensed banks which are registered money transfer agents or trust companies in Japan.
To extend the legislation Japan they have also introduced a registration process for institutions that plan to issue digital assets to protect the economy against money laundering.
Reports suggest that this legislation is intended to protect investors and the financial system from the major risks that are associated with the fast acceptance and adoption of stablecoins and digital assets as a whole.
Binance Enter The Music Industry Ft The Weeknd🎵
We tend to often cover Binance however that is simply due to the nature they are advancing the adoption of digital assets faster than any competitors.
In confluence with adoption, the major advantage that Binance has is the fact that:
- They have the largest Twitter following in all of crypto.
- They have a vast level of capital.
Earlier this week, Binance expressed these advantages by acquiring the official sponsorship of The Weeknd’s “After Hours Til Dawn” tour. This sponsorship is monumental for innovators like Binance as this marks the first global concert involving a ‘web3/crypto’ integration.
The partnership/integration includes the production of an exclusive NFT collection for The Weeknd’s tour alongside co-branded tour merchandise.
Prices Return To Local Lows ⬇️
Following a short term relief fund, we have seen the markets U-turn and continue their bearish trend.
With $BTC spiking as high as $32,000 on the previously weekly candle, we quickly saw it return to the high $29,000 range in a matter of days.
As macro trends seem to point to a dead-end for risk assets, the prices also reflect a shaky time for investors in crypto.
Looking at some of the prices across the majors…
It’s clear that we are following the continuation of that bearish trend.
As a reminder this is not a trading signal, it is an opinion and each trader/investor should know and understand the risks attached to trading. At no point should this be regarded as financial advice
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