Former OpenSea Ventures Head Accused of Pump and Dump Schemes

Kevin Pawlak, the former head of OpenSea Ventures, a venture capital firm that invested in several crypto projects, has been accused of running pump and dump schemes on various tokens. According to a report by CryptoSlate¹, Pawlak allegedly used his influence and insider information to manipulate the prices of tokens such as $SHIB, $FEG, $AKITA, $ELON, and others. He would buy large amounts of these tokens before announcing partnerships or listings on OpenSea, a popular NFT marketplace, and then sell them at a higher price after the news was released. This would cause the tokens to crash and leave many investors in losses.

Pawlak left OpenSea Ventures in August 2023 and launched a new project called Slope Wallet, a decentralized wallet that supports Solana and Ethereum. However, Slope Wallet was hacked in September 2023 and lost over $60 million worth of funds from its users. The hacker reportedly bridged the funds to TRON and cashed out through OTCs². Some victims of the hack suspect that Pawlak was behind the attack and that he used the funds to cover his losses from the pump and dump schemes.

Pawlak has not responded to the allegations and his social media accounts have been deleted. OpenSea, the NFT marketplace, has also distanced itself from Pawlak and his activities. The crypto community has condemned Pawlak’s actions and warned others to be careful of such scams in the space.