Cryptocurrencies
Insider Scandal Shakes Up the Booming World of ‘Illiquid JPEGs’
- Insider at largest NFT exchange bought items to be promoted
- Scandal shines spotlight on platform’s sway over asset prices
The OpenSea website.
Photographer: Jens Kalaene/picture alliance/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
There were all the elements of a financial scandal: insider information, a dominant exchange, suspicious price patterns, and an image of technicolor aliens in a ramen restaurant.
This is the story that captivated crypto social media this week, when the largest marketplace for non-fungible tokens OpenSea confirmed an employee was trading on confidential information after a few users on Twitter uncovered bread crumbs pointing to nefarious behavior.