OpenSea, a prominent nonfungible token (NFT) platform, has issued a response to recent accusations on social media suggesting that a former employee, Kevin Pawlak, was linked to the infamous AnubisDAO rug pull in 2021. The allegations surfaced in an October 6th thread on X (formerly Twitter), initiated by the anonymous account NFT Ethics. NFT Ethics called upon OpenSea to address claims that Kevin Pawlak, the former head of ventures at OpenSea, had connections to the pseudonymous identity “0xSisyphus” and participated in “various dubious business dealings.”
OpenSea gives its position on the allegations
Both NFT Ethics and the blockchain analytics account Lookonchain asserted that 0xSisyphus, and by extension, Pawlak, played a significant role in promoting the AnubisDAO project to investors shortly before the project transferred the funds it had raised to external wallets. The thread by NFT Ethics outlined allegations that Pawlak, along with other developers, premeditated the AnubisDAO rug pull and laundered the proceeds through the memecoin Pepe (PEPE).
In response to these allegations, an OpenSea spokesperson clarified that the company was unaware of any involvement by Kevin Pawlak in such activities. The spokesperson also mentioned that Pawlak had held a “limited scope” position during his time at OpenSea, where he worked in a non-management role. OpenSea stated that it had no knowledge of Pawlak’s connection to the projects in question and highlighted that these events occurred before his tenure at the company.
Skepticism and questions trail the rug pull incident
The AnubisDAO incident, which unfolded in October 2021, saw the project raise 13,556 Ethereum, equivalent to $60 million at the time, from cryptocurrency investors. However, approximately 20 hours after the fundraising, the funds were transferred to multiple wallet addresses, resulting in a significant loss for investors. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT expressed skepticism regarding the accusations in the thread, characterizing it as “one of the most mid-curve” things he had read.
He pointed out that much of the thread seemed to rely on assumptions about 0xSisyphus’ role in the alleged rug pull without concrete evidence. Additionally, it was revealed that 0xSisyphus had offered a 1,000 ETH bounty for identifying the wallet address responsible for draining the pool and had engaged law enforcement in the United States and Hong Kong. This raised further doubts about the accusations against 0xSisyphus. ZachXBT emphasized that while 0xSisyphus may be at fault for gross negligence in misrepresenting the Anubis team multisig, it was different from stealing money from their project.
He noted that 0xSisyphus was the only team member in contact with the Department of Homeland Security, suggesting that law enforcement would have closely monitored their activities. ZachXBT pointed out that the primary actors responsible for the loss of funds in the AnubisDAO scandal were two pseudonymous users known as “Beerus” and “Ersan.” While accusations have surfaced on social media, there remains skepticism within the blockchain community, with questions about the validity of the claims and the actual culprits behind the AnubisDAO incident.
