Nathaniel Chastain, former head of product at OpenSea, is set to face trial on 24 April on charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

Chastain was indicted in October 2022 in connection with allegations he used inside knowledge of which non-fungible tokens (NFTs) would appear on OpenSea's front page to buy NFTs before they featured on the site and then sold them for a profit once they were highlighted.

Chastain's lawyers have argued the NFTs are not securities nor commodities, and therefore precedent regarding insider trading has yet to be established. However, the case has been dubbed the first insider trading scheme involving digital assets by the US Department of Justice. The judge in the trial has granted the government's motion to preclude witness opinions on the case and to preclude arguments that OpenSea suffered no harm, although the court could hear from Chastain directly on how he thinks his actions impacted his former employer.