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Opensea NFT marketplace Accuses Senior Employee of Insider Trading

Opensea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, has announced that one of its senior employees is guilty of insider trading, using internal information to profit big on nonfungible tokens.

The popular marketplace stated that Nate Chastain, the head of product at Opensea, used internal information to purchase NFTs that was about to be featured on the company’s homepage and likely to spike in value.

On Wednesday, September 15, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer tweeted: “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. This is incredibly disappointing. We want to be clear that this behaviour does not represent our values as a team. We are taking this very seriously and are conducting an immediate and thorough review of this incident so that we have a full understanding of the facts and additional steps we need to take.”

Opensea is investigating Chastain’s secret dealing after the accusations were made against him last night when community members publicly accused the employee of buying NFTs set to be displayed on the company’s website front page before their public listing.

Yesterday, a Twitter user named ‘ZuwuTV’ highlighted a tweet stating that Chastain operated “secret wallets” that purchased the platform’s front page NFTs before they were “featured,” and later selling them for a profit once the price spike because of their exposure.

Other Twitter users also accused Chastain of using a secret Ethereum wallet to snap up the site’s front page NFTs before their public release.

Some users mentioned a tweet by Chastain in August in which he appeared to admit that he bought an NFT by the Artist Arya Mularama ahead of the public listing. “I just wanted to get one of these before they all disappeared tbh,” Chastain tweeted during that time.

Using tools like Twitter’s advanced search function and Wayback Machine, ZuwuTV and other users showed that Chastain likely purchased NFTs that are set to be featured NFTs on the OpenSea website.

Seven months ago, Chastain bought CryptoPunk #3501 for 26.98 Ether (worth $92,000 at today’s prices), according to Opensea data. Since this NFT identified his Ethereum address, users were able to follow the money trail flowing into Chastain’s publicly known account, as the Ethereum blockchain transparently and permanently records all transactions on a public ledger.

Opensea has therefore introduced new policies stating that team members are now disallowed from buying or selling from collections. At the same time, they are being promoted or featured on the company’s homepage and not allowed to use confidential information to buy or sell NFTs, whether available on the company’s platform or not.

Rising Demand for NFTs

Built in 2017, Opensea is the largest peer-to-peer marketplace for crypto assets (nonfungible tokens), collectables, gaming items, and other assets backed by a blockchain. The firm is operating in a brand-new market but growing rapidly. The company has had over $200 million in trading volume in its platform since launch and over 12 million assets listed on the marketplace.

In August, Opensea recorded a $3.4 billion transaction volume on Ethereum, more than ten times the figure in July.

Data indicate unprecedented interests in NFTs – digital assets that can represent items that range from virtual real estate, video files to artwork. The rising demand and media attention have pushed the prices of NFT collections, and buying frenzy of such digital assets has also increased the prices of Solana and Ether and other smart contracts blockchains where nonfungible tokens can be created.

Coinbase Exchange Launches its NFT Marketplace

San Francisco-based digital asset trading platform, Coinbase has announced the launch of its Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace targeted to empower digital artists and promote the mainstream adoption of the NFT metaverse.

According to a recent blog post shared by Sanchan Saxena, VP of Product, Ecosystem, said the Coinbase NFT marketplace will function as:

“A peer-to-peer marketplace that will make minting, purchasing, showcasing and discovering NFTs easier than ever. Just as Coinbase helped millions of people access Bitcoin for the first time in an easy and trusted way — we want to do the same for the NFTs.”

Per the Coinbase executive, the marketplace will significantly simplify the process of interacting with the NFT marketplace for both creators and collectors, with a special emphasis on improved user experience capabilities. In addition, Coinbase says it will be adding extra features that will serve all of the platform users productively.

“We’re making NFTs more accessible by building user-friendly interfaces that put the complexity behind the scenes. We’re adding social features that open new avenues for conversation and discovery. And we’re going to grow the creator community exponentially, a win for artists and fans,”

While legacy trading platforms like OpenSea, and Rarible are pioneering digital collectables trading platforms, many prominent cryptocurrency exchanges like Crypto.com, Binance, FTX Derivatives exchange, and Coinbase are beginning to make their moves into this new niche. Backed by a thriving ecosystem that has embraced their digital currency products, the likelihood for these centralized exchange heavyweights to take a larger market share is a reality for existing players in the space.

However, this potential competition can work to the favour of collectors and, as such drive, the mainstream adoption of the new space as new marketplaces will slug it out in terms of offering unique and valuable products with the proper liquidity that are cheap to access in general.

While Coinbase seems ready for its takeover, with a specific focus on creators, the impact of regulations in the United States might usher in an uncertain twist to its NFT marketplace in the near future.

Coinbase Wallet Rolls Out Support for NFTs

Nasdaq-listed digital currency trading platform Coinbase Global Inc has expanded the support for its self-custody wallet to include Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

As unveiled by the crypto exchange behemoth, the support for the NFT will let users store and control their ERC-721 NFT assets, a move billed to increase the adoption of the exchange’s browser wallet.

Coinbase is one of the most iconic trading platforms that operate as a centralized platform that keeps custody of its user’s keys. However, the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry, which Coinbase represents, has seen the emergence of decentralized platforms which return control of owned assets to users. This control is enabled by a particular type of wallet, which Coinbase now has two versions of an app and a browser extension.

The NFT support via the Coinbase browser wallet will enable users to view the NFT collection associated with their addresses. Coinbase said the wallet in the extension will not immediately have support for the NFT gallery viewing. However, the company may roll out the feature shortly.

While Coinbase did not reveal the exact date the feature will be accessible for all users, the exchange affirmed that its customers will need to have the latest version of the browser extension to access the feature.

The ongoing price correction in the digital currency ecosystem has largely toned down the hype surrounding the NFTs and the budding Web3.0 innovations. Despite this price slump, the emergence and growth in the sales of NFTs have been a defining trend this year, with total sales estimated to top $17.7 billion before the end of the year.

As a way to tag along with this growth, key players in the cryptocurrency industry, including FTX, Binance, and Coinbase, have been taking the competition directly to NFT marketplace innovators like OpenSea. The NFT support on the browser extension wallet is one step forward in the fight for dominance for Coinbase.

NFT Trading Platform Magic Eden Raises $130m at $1.6B Valuation

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden has raised a new $130 million in a Series B funding round, increasing its valuation to $1.6 billion.

The platform, recognized as the biggest on the Solana network, attained this unicorn status just a few months after it completed its Series A round earlier this year, raising $27 million at the time.

This latest funding round was co-led by Electric Capital and Greylock Partners, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, and Light Speed Ventures Capital. While the cryptocurrency ecosystem has continued to experience a broad-based meltdown, the funding Magic Eden just landed is a testament to the longer-term focus for investors, which is to back entities with good infrastructure and fundamentals.

“(This valuation) more than ever validates the industry and market we’re in,” Zhuoxun Yin, COO of Magic Eden, said to TechCrunch. “There’s investor appetite to bet on this market. We’re very bullish on the horizon. There’s a lot to build, and most of the use cases are still early, so this gives us an opportunity to build that.”

Magic Eden serves as a hub where digital artists can create their NFT collections and sell them to willing collectors. Despite controlling the lion’s share of NFT trading volumes on Solana, OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, has integrated support for Solana-based NFTs, posing a direct threat to Magic Eden.

In a bid to maintain a competitive advantage, Magic Eden is looking at avenues to explore multi-chain support for its hosted collectables and it plans to utilize the new capital to achieve this goal.

Magic Eden hopes to serve as a bridge for new consumers looking to enter the blockchain world as the featured items are highly relatable.

“At our heart, we are user-first and want to go where they are and better serve them,” Jack Lu, CEO of Magic Eden, said in a statement. “I think when you think about different use cases in crypto overall, right now it’s clear NFTs are a bridge from the average consumer to the blockchain world. It’s cultural, it’s about communities on the internet, and is much more emotionally relatable.”

eBay Announces Acquisition NFT Marketplace KnownOrigin

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) continues to deepen its footprint in digital collectables. The e-commerce giant announced on Wednesday that it has acquired the U.K-based non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace KnownOrigin. The terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.

The latest acquisition is important for eBay’s tech-led reimagination as part of the company’s effort to develop a top destination platform for digital artwork collectables as well as sales.

Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay, talked about the development: “we will remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectables. KnownOrigin has built up an impressive, passionate and loyal group of artists and collectors making them a perfect addition to our community of sellers and buyers.”

Since established in 2018 in Manchester, UK, KnownOrigin has remained a marketplace that allows collectors and artists to create, purchase, and resell NFTs via blockchain-support transactions. Since its establishment, KnownOrigin has witnessed huge growth and trade volumes as it has revolutionized the way users create, buy, and sell NFTs.

eBay’s tech-led reimagination has resulted in massive upgrades to the firm’s technology, performance and customer experience, including tools making it easier to discover, buy and sell anything.

As a part of such reinvention, last month, eBay started allowing the buying and selling of NFTs with the launch of its first collection of NFTs in partnership with web3 platform OneOf. The firm said the surge in the collectables market led to its first-ever collaboration in the NFT landscape.

Rising Demands of NFT

Crypto has shown its potential to the world about its real efficiency and shaping the economy of the digital era. Likewise, NFTs, a niche of cryptocurrency, has created another way of reaching the top, building what crypto took years to develop in decades.

NFTs have created a way for the artists and many other professionals to showcase and mint their works as NFTs. It is a great diversion in the crypto era where users began working on mining their NFTs.

The NFT market has introduced businesses, investors, users, and ordinary people to exploit great opportunities. More celebrities, including musicians, sportspersons, movie stars, and others have turned their interests in this digital token to create their own NFT collections and sell them.

The NFT craze has remained as strong in 2022 as it was last year. Lots of big mainstream businesses are setting up NFT shops in hopes of discovering a new revenue model.

Everyone from GameStop, Visa, The NFL (National Football League), Softbank, Coinbase, Rackuten, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), Tech Mahindra, Spotify, Associated Press, USFL, Animoca Brands, and other have their own NFT marketplaces in some stage of planning, while some have launched recently.

NFT Marketplace SudoRare Sees Rug Pull Hours After Going Live

SudoRare, a hybrid non-fungible token (NFT) platform, has been involved in a rug pull barely six hours after the trading platform went live.

While the initial narrative was that the exchange was attacked by cybercriminals, blockchain security protocol Peckshield later revealed that chances are that it was the NFT trading platform’s developers that looted its customers.

According to Peckshield’s data, a total of 519 Ethereum coins (worth approximately $820,000) along with some LooksRare (LOOKS) and USDC were carted away. Investigations revealed that the funds had been moved to three addresses with one of them linked to an account on the Kucoin trading platform.

The suspicion that it was the project developers that were behind the attack was hinged on the fact that the platform’s social media handles as well as its medium page has been closed down. This will be another blow to the NFT community as the trust placed on a supposedly innovative protocol was dashed before the outfit could even prove itself.

The SudoRare NFT platform was allegedly designed as a trading outfit that combines the decentralized NFT pool model of SudoSwap with the centralized and reward-based model of the LooksRare platform. If the NFT trading platform had not been rugged, it might have provided a measure of competition to existing outfits including LooksRare, Magic Eden, and OpenSea.

Exploits and pre-meditated attacks are not uncommon in the growing digital currency ecosystem. With developers known to abandon projects in the past as in the case of SushiSwap, its occurrence tapered over the past year with hacking and phishing attacks taking the centre stage amongst DeFi and NFT protocols.

This year has been a very tumultuous year in general as the biggest exploit, involving the more than $620 million drain on the Ronin Bridge, has been recorded thus far. Besides this, protocols like the Nomad Network and even Crypto.com has suffered hacks this year, further casting doubts on the security capacity of the entire DeFi and NFT infrastructure.

Binance NFT Ceases Support for Bitcoin NFTs

Binance NFT, the NFT marketplace offered by leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has recently made an important update regarding Bitcoin NFTs. In an official announcement, Binance NFT stated that it will cease support for trades and deposits of Bitcoin NFTs on its platform.

According to the announcement, users are advised to withdraw their Bitcoin NFTs from the Binance NFT Marketplace via the Bitcoin network before May 18, 2024, to ensure they retain ownership and control over their assets. After April 18, 2024, users will no longer be able to buy, deposit, bid on, or list NFTs on the Binance NFT Marketplace using the Bitcoin network.

It is important to note that all impacted listing orders will be automatically canceled at the specified date and time. Additionally, Binance NFT clarified that it will not support any further airdrops, benefits, or utilities associated with Bitcoin NFTs after April 10, 2024.

The announcement also addressed Runestone NFTs. Binance NFT confirmed that for users who are eligible for the Runestone airdrop, the NFTs have already been distributed to their Binance NFT accounts. However, users are advised to withdraw these NFTs before April 10, 2024, to ensure they have the opportunity to receive any associated tokens, utilities, and benefits.

It is important for users to take note of the specified deadlines and ensure they withdraw their Bitcoin NFTs and Runestone NFTs accordingly. Failure to do so may result in the loss of associated tokens and benefits.

Binance NFT emphasized that the trading of Runestone NFTs will not be supported on its platform. Users who have any questions or concerns regarding these updates are encouraged to reach out to the Customer Support team for assistance.

As with any investment, it is crucial to understand the risks involved. The value of NFTs can be volatile, and users should be aware that NFTs are subject to high market risk. Binance reminds users to exercise caution and make informed decisions when participating in the NFT market.

In conclusion, Binance NFT has announced the cessation of support for Bitcoin NFTs on its marketplace. Users are advised to withdraw their Bitcoin NFTs before May 18, 2024, and to withdraw Runestone NFTs before April 10, 2024, to ensure they retain access to associated tokens, utilities, and benefits. For further information and assistance, users can contact Binance NFT’s Customer Support team.