OpenSea Responds to Allegations Linking Ex-Executive to $60M AnubisDAO Incident
OpenSea has addressed recent social media claims suggesting a former employee's involvement in the AnubisDAO rug pull incident from 2021.
Disclaimer: This story is still developing, and all information provided is based on the current available data. Not all details have been confirmed.
OpenSea, a leading platform for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), has publicly stated that they possess no evidence indicating that a past employee had ties to the AnubisDAO rug pull incident in 2021. This response comes in the wake of recent allegations circulating on social media platforms.
Social Media Claims and Accusations
On October 6, an anonymous Twitter account under the user ID "NFT Ethics" posted a series of tweets. These messages tagged OpenSea and raised questions about their former head of ventures, Kevin Pawlak. The tweets suggested that Pawlak might be connected to the pseudonymous identity “0xSisyphus” and could have been part of questionable business dealings.
Both NFT Ethics and blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain have posited that 0xSisyphus, potentially along with Pawlak, played a significant role in promoting the AnubisDAO project to investors. This promotion occurred shortly before the project transferred the newly acquired funds to various external wallets.
OpenSea's Position and Previous Incidents
A representative from OpenSea clarified to Cointelegraph. that they were unaware of any such activities involving Pawlak. They further highlighted that Pawlak held a non-management position during his tenure at OpenSea and emphasized that any alleged activities took place before his association with the platform. In October 2021, AnubisDAO reportedly secured approximately 13,556 ETH, equivalent to around $60 million, from cryptocurrency investors. However, these funds were swiftly transferred to different wallet addresses within a span of 20 hours.
Skepticism and Counter-Claims
While there's a cloud of suspicion surrounding these allegations, some have expressed doubts about their validity. A blockchain investigator named ZachXBT has dismissed these claims, suggesting they lack concrete evidence and might be based on unrelated events.
Interestingly, 0xSisyphus had previously offered a 1,000 ETH reward to anyone who could identify the wallet responsible for the fund transfer. This matter even involved law enforcement agencies from the United States and Hong Kong.
