Share this article
Ex-OpenSea Exec Convicted of Wire Fraud, Money Laundering in Insider Trading Case
Nate Chastain made approximately $50,000 by buying and trading non-fungible tokens with insider knowledge gained from his position at OpenSea.
Updated May 18, 2023, 2:10 p.m. Published May 3, 2023, 9:15 p.m.
Nate Chastain, the former head of product at non-fungible token (NFT) platform OpenSea, was convicted of money laundering and wire fraud in a federal court in New York on Wednesday, according to a report from Reuters.
Chastain was forced to resign from his role in September 2021 after allegations of insider trading spread across social media. Chastain was accused of abusing his position – which included selecting NFTs to feature on OpenSea’s homepage – to illegally profit.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Chastain made more than $50,000 from June 2021 to September 2021 by buying NFTs he knew would be featured on the company’s website on the cheap, and then selling them at inflated prices after the increased attention caused prices to jump, prosecutors alleged. Chastain attempted to conceal his purchases by using anonymous wallets and OpenSea accounts.
"Nathanial Chastain exploited his advanced knowledge of which NFTs would be featured on OpenSea's website to make profitable trades for himself," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "Although this case involved novel trades in crypto assets, there was nothing particularly innovative about his conduct – it was fraud."
Prosecutors in the U.S. Southern District Court of New York (SDNY) filed the wire fraud and money laundering charges against Chastain in June 2022. According to SDNY, the case against Chastain was the first insider trading case involving digital assets.
After attempting and failing to get the case dismissed on procedural grounds, Chastain went to trial in Manhattan on April 24. After three days of deliberation, the jury found Chastain guilty on both counts.
Chastain faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.
UPDATE (May 3, 2023 21:32 UTC): Adds comment from Damian Williams.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Do Kwon Judge Demands Answers Before Sentencing Over ‘Assurance’ He’ll Serve Time
Judge asked whether Kwon might be freed abroad and asked for details on victims, time-served credit and unresolved charges ahead of sentencing.
What to know:
- A U.S. district judge has posed six questions regarding the sentencing of Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, who is accused of defrauding investors.
- Judge Paul A. Engelmayer is seeking clarity on issues such as Kwon's potential extradition to South Korea and victim compensation before the sentencing hearing on Thursday.
- Terraform's collapse, which once had a market value exceeding $50 billion, was a significant event in the 2022 crypto market downturn.
Top Stories
