While the NFT world experiences a period of stagnation, controversy continues to surround OpenSea. Another shocking revelation has emerged, adding to the recent discussions about former employees. According to a thread on X, an OpenSea employee was involved in the AnubisDAO rug-pull scandal that occurred in 2021. However, the OpenSea team claims to be unaware of this situation.
OpenSea Responds to Allegations
An anonymous account called NFT Ethics shared a post on October 6th, making a serious accusation. The post alleged that Kevin Pawlak, the former head of ventures at the platform, was connected to the pseudonym “0xSisyphus” and involved in multiple suspicious deals.
NFT Ethics was supported by another blockchain analysis page called Lookonchain. They revealed that Pawlak sent funds raised for the project to a series of wallets under the name 0xSiysphus and recently introduced the AnubisDAO project to investors. In response to these allegations, an OpenSea spokesperson stated that they were unaware of Pawlak’s involvement in such events. They clarified that Pawlak had limited authority while working at OpenSea in a non-executive position. The spokesperson further added:
“Kevin is a former employee who left the company in June 2023. He had limited authority while working at OpenSea. We have no knowledge of his involvement in the mentioned projects as they took place before his time at OpenSea, and we have no connection or information regarding these projects.”
Valued at $60 Million
AnubisDAO, mentioned in the allegations, was launched in October 2021 and raised $60 million in funds from investors. During that period, the platform collected 13,556 Ethereum. However, just 20 hours later, the funds were sent to various addresses, causing significant disappointment among investors.
ZachXBT, a blockchain researcher who has gained praise through their posts on X, commented on these accusations. The individual stated that the assumptions presented are baseless and provided an explanation. The offer of a 1,000 ETH reward to anyone who could identify the wallet address involved in the rug-pull resulted in serious investigations by law enforcement in both the US and Hong Kong. This raises doubts about the accuracy of the new allegations:
“0xSisyphus may be guilty of gross negligence for lying about the Anubis team’s multisig. There could potentially be a legal case for the victims.”