Here’s your NFT and metaverse news for the week
Former OpenSea employee Nate Chastain was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering in an NFT-related case this week. Photo illustration of Fortune
Welcome to This Week in the Metaverse (now published Saturdays), where Fortune rounding up the most interesting news in the NFT world, culture and metaverse. Email [email protected] with tips.
The first “insider trading” case involving NFTs was finally closed this week. After two days of deliberations, former OpenSea product manager Nate Chastain was convicted on two counts – one for wire fraud, one for money laundering.
Chastain was accused of using information about collections to be listed on OpenSea’s website to make trades in which he – and two others – personally shelled out thousands of dollars. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison, although he is likely to get less.
The Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said Chastian’s actions were a classic case of fraud. The defense claimed, on the contrary, that it was not so clear, and that in particular the charge of wire fraud raised questions about what is the company’s property, and whether Chastain actually broke any company rules.
The case may have far-reaching implications, not only in cases of NFTs, but in non-financial cases. The defense even argued that the decision could criminalize disputes between employees and employers, although that has yet to be seen.
Looking ahead, perhaps the most interesting NFT-related case is a class action lawsuit against Dapper Labs, the creator of NBA Top Shot.
The plaintiffs claim Dapper Labs’ NFT “Moments,” which depict various NBA players, are securities. Earlier this year, a judge said the plaintiffs argued this point sufficiently for the case to go forward and be decided in court. Unlike Chastain’s case, the Dapper Labs case raises the question of whether NFTs are securities, which so far has not been explicitly answered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the broader NFT market, we saw newfound excitement in Solana NFTs due to Mad Lads and some buzz around the Blur marketplace’s new borrowing and lending product, as well as similar buy-now-pay-later digital assets.
Meanwhile, a report from Dapp Radar was less optimistic, noting that NFT trading volume fell 19% in April to $1.4 billion. The number of traders also hit a 20-month low last month at 364,911. Something to think about.
In other news
The London-based Evening standard newspaper partnered with digital artist Trevor Jones to launch a free collection of commemorative Ethereum NFTs, called “The Oath”, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III Saturday, Decrypt reported. They can be claimed on the crypto exchange Nifty Gateway or by using a QR code to be printed in the newspaper and plastered on billboards along Oxford Street in London. The artwork in NFT by Jones shows Saint Edward’s crowncarried off Queen Elizabeth II in her coronation in 1953. The NFTs will not be delivered to wallets until May 7.
Jack Hill—POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Sotheby’s launched a peer-to-peer secondary market for NFT art and collectibles on its marketplace, Sotheby’s Metaverse, this week. NFTs on the platform will be curated by specialists from the auction house who will provide guidance and context for each work. The platform will allow people to trade with each other using Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, as they do on other NFT exchanges Open sea. In particular, each secondary sale will include royalties– and artists will set their own prices. Users of the secondary marketplace can buy and sell works from 13 leading digital artists: Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, XCOPY, Diana Sinclair, IX Shells, Sarah Zucker, Refik Anadol, Sofia Crespo, Sam Spratt, Pindar van Arman, Osinachi, Hackatao, and Sebastião Salgado.
Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Sports Illustrated is jumping into NFT tickets through a partnership between ticketing website, SI Tickets, and MetaMask creator of crypto wallets Consensys. SI Tickets launched a platform this week called Box Office by SI Tickets that provides NFT tickets for events of all sizes across sports, health, fitness, concerts and comedy. .SI tickets and ConsenSys is also introducing a “super ticket” that is intended to enhance engagement opportunities between hosts and attendees before, during and after events.
