It seems like wherever you go, no matter what market you're trading, there are always people playing with an unfair advantage. Which was the case recently. An employee at OpenSea, the largest NFT platform with a valuation of $1.5 billion, was caught red handed trading assets while knowing beforehand the outcome of their price.
The facts
On the 16th of this month, the company declared this on its official website's blog.
Yesterday we learned that one of our employees purchased items that they knew were set to display on our front page before they appeared there publicly.
Clearly, this didn't conform to the company's rules and values. Which is pretty transparent from their behalf.
Consequently, immediate actions had to be taken. First, the company appealed to a third-party review. Then, they implemented two new policies:
OpenSea team members may not buy or sell from collections or creators while we are featuring or promoting them (e.g. on our home page); and
OpenSea team members are prohibited from using confidential information to purchase or sell any NFTs, whether available on the OPENSEA platform or not.
These actions will, hopefully, limit the number of future incidents.
Investigation is still going on and a spokesperson of the company said they "would update everyone after an internal investigation is complete".
The rumors
If you visit LinkedIn, you'll find that Chastain's account is listed as unavailable.
Add in to the fact that the Chinese blockchain 8btc traced an 18.875 ETH transaction tied to Chastain following his alleged scheme. This is thanks to the transparency of the Ethereum network. Users were able to trace the transaction in question because all the information is permanently recorded on a public ledger.
Conclusion
Insider trading is illegal for a good reason. Nobody wants to be taken for a fool. The unfair advantage acquired by it can discourage investors and ordinary people from ever participating in the market. Thus not contributing to the success of the asset itself and the team behind it. It's a deal where only and truly one person wins.
