Here’s your NFT and Metaverse news for the week

Former OpenSea employee Nate Chastain was convicted this week of wire fraud and money laundering in an NFT-related case. Photo illustration by Fortune

Welcome to this week in the Metaverse (now published on Saturdays), where wealth summarizes the most interesting news from the world of NFTs, culture and the metaverse. E-mail marco.quiroz-gutierrez@fortune.com with tips.

The first “insider trading” case related to NFTs was finally closed this week. After two days of deliberations, former OpenSea product manager Nate Chastain said was convicted on two counts– one on wire fraud, one on money laundering.

Chastain was accused of using information about which collections would be listed on OpenSea’s homepage for deals in which he personally pocketed thousands of dollars. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison, although he will probably get less.

The Justice Department and US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said Chastain’s actions were a classic case of fraud. The defense, on the other hand, claimed that it wasn’t so clear and that In particular, the allegation of wire fraud raised the question of what constitutes corporate propertyand whether Chastain actually violated company rules.

The case could have far-reaching implications, not only in cases involving NFTs but also in non-financial cases. The defense even argued that the decision could criminalize disputes between workers and employers, although this is unclear.

Looking ahead, perhaps the most interesting case involving NFTs is a class action lawsuit against Dapper Labs, the creators of NBA Top Shot.

Plaintiffs allege that Dapper Labs’ NFT “Moments” depict various NBA players, are securities. Earlier this year, a judge said the plaintiffs had sufficiently argued the point for the case to proceed and be resolved in court. Unlike the Chastain case, the Dapper Labs case addresses the question of whether NFTs are securities, which the Securities and Exchange Commission has not yet explicitly answered.

In the broader NFT market, we’ve seen renewed excitement for Solana NFTs due to Mad Lads and some excitement for the Blur Marketplace’s new lending and lending product, as well as the equivalent of “buy now, pay later” for digital assets.

In the meantime, a report by Dapp Radar was less optimistic, noting that April’s NFT trading volume fell 19% to $1.4 billion. The number of traders also hit a 20-month low last month at 364,911. food for thought.

In other news

The London based evening standard The newspaper has partnered with digital artist Trevor Jones to release a free collection of commemorative Ethereum NFTs called The Oath to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, reported decryption. They can be requested at crypto exchange Nifty Gateway or via a QR code printed in newspapers and placed on billboards along Oxford Street in London. The artwork in the NFT by Jones shows Crown of Saint Edwardworn by Queen Elizabeth the second at her coronation in 1953. NFTs will not be delivered to wallets until May 7th.

Jack Hill – POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Sotheby’s has launched a peer-to-peer secondary market for NFT art and collectibles in its marketplace. Sotheby’s Metaverse, this week. NFTs on the platform are curated by auction house specialists who provide guidance and context for each work. The platform will allow people to transact with each other ether And polygon Blockchains like they do on other NFT exchanges Open sea. In particular, each secondary sale includes the following royalties— and artists set their own prices. Secondary Marketplace users can buy and sell works by 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 Sebastiao Salgado.

Courtesy of Sotheby’s

sports illustrated enters the NFT ticketing market through a partnership between its ticketing website SI Tickets and NFT MetaMask Crypto wallet creators consensus. SI Tickets this week launched a platform called Box Office by SI Tickets, providing NFT tickets for events of all sizes in sports, health, fitness, concerts and comedy.​​SI tickets and ConsenSys are also introducing “super ticket” This is intended to improve the interaction possibilities between hosts and participants before, during and after events.