🚔 OpenSea’s Former Head of Product Arrested by the FBI
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Elsewhere
Users who sold the initial OP airdrop should become ineligible for all future airdrops: Optimism
Chipotle will now accept cryptocurrency in US stores: The Block
Trending in The Defiant
Liquid Staking Derivatives Pose ‘Significant Risks’ to Ethereum 2.0: Report
Tutorial: Do Kwon's folly - Dai was never going to die. Here's why
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🚔 OpenSea’s Former Head of Product Arrested by the FBI
By Owen Fernau
SCANDAL It was one of last year’s largest scandals — Nate Chastain, the former head of product at OpenSea, left under a cloud after it was discovered that he purchased NFTs before they were featured on his former employer’s homepage and subsequently sold them as the increased exposure led to higher prices.
WIRE FRAUD Now, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has issued a statement that Chastain was arrested on June 1 in New York City. The FBI will charge Chastain with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
LEGAL BATTLE The arrest indicates that NFTs, and perhaps crypto as a whole, are increasingly in the sights of U.S. regulators. Indeed, just last week, DeFi savings protocol PoolTogether was compelled to fundraise with NFTs to pay legal fees of their own in an ongoing legal battle.
👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈
Market Action
🧐 Flurry of Metrics Show Signs of Potential Recovery for ETH
By Samuel Haig
PRICE ACTION Is the worst over for ETH? The Ethereum markets are giving mixed signals, with on-chain data indicating accumulation is underway in spite of bearish price action.
SLUMP The price of Ether slumped 6% overnight, erasing the gains posted during last week’s bounce from its seven-month low of $1,700. ETH has now dropped 63% from its November high of nearly $4,900.
HOPE But some investors are accumulating ETH in spite of the brutal bear trend.
👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈
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Airdrops
🚴🏽 Velodrome AMM Launches Airdrop on Optimism
By Jason Levin
NEWS On June 1, automated market maker Velodrome launched an airdrop of its $VELO governance token on Optimism. The move comes a day after Optimism, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, kicked off the first phase of its own $OP airdrop.
USERS The majority (60%) of the VELO supply has been allocated to the community. Airdrop recipients include WEVE holders, Optimism network users, and users of various DeFi protocols. A full list can be found here.
PROTOCOLS Partner protocols building on Optimism will receive 24% of the VELO supply. These include Aave, AlchemixFi, Fei, Frax, Hop, inverse Finance, Lido, Lura, MakerDAO, Optimism, Perpetual Protocol, Redacted Cartel, Synthetic, and Thales Protocol.
👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈
The Tube
📺 Hot Stuff: Have sex. Get paid. Move to earn is officially topped... (narf narf)
Elsewhere
🔗 Users who sold the initial OP airdrop should become ineligible for all future airdrops: Optimism
Have seen enough wallets collect the OP airdrop, swap it straight to Uniswap.
🔗 Chipotle will now accept cryptocurrency in US stores: The Block
Chipotle, the popular Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain, will now accept cryptocurrency payments through Flexa, a digital payments platform.
🔗 Debunking the Crypto Critics Letter: Preston Byrne
I mean, this isn’t exactly true and/or could benefit from clearer language. Nobody who signed this letter actually works in the cryptocurrency industry, to start.
Trending in The Defiant
Optimism Airdrop Turns ‘Turbulent’ After Demand Overload The first phase of Optimism’s debut airdrop took place on May 31, but it was overwhelmed by demand and the project scrambled to fulfill claims on a “turbulent” day.
Liquid Staking Derivatives Pose ‘Significant Risks’ to Ethereum 2.0: Report Protocols that offer liquid staking derivatives, like Lido and Rocket Pool, could undermine the integrity of Ethereum after its transition to proof-of-stake, according to a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation.
Tutorial: Do Kwon's folly - Dai was never going to die. Here's why Dai is a stablecoin implemented as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain.
🧑💻 ✍️ Stories in The Defiant are written by Owen Fernau, Samuel Haig, Jason Levin, DeFiDad, Aleksandar Gilbert, and yyctrader, and edited by Edward Robinson, yyctrader, and Camila Russo. Videos are produced by Robin Schmidt, Alp Gasimov and Daniel Flynn. Podcast is led by Camila, produced by Daniel and Alp.
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