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DOJ NFT Insider Trading Indictment Skirts Securities Question, But Litigates Like It Is

By Isha Marathe
August 01, 2022

Tacking onto the many "firsts" in the digital asset space, there was a leadoff non-fungible token (NFT) insider trading indictment from the Department of Justice, raising new possibilities about where exactly these blockchain-powered tokens fit in the current financial framework.

The question of whether an NFT is a security has come up several times, and United States of America v. Chastain in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York brings the dispute back to the forefront.

But, if attorneys and businesses operating in the space were hoping that the DOJ's allegations against former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain might finally reveal whether NFTs satisfy the Howey Test, they might be disappointed.

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