Backpack was founded in early 2023 by Armani Ferrante and Tristan Yver, formerly of FTX and Alameda. Ferrante had previously built Anchor — the most-used Solana smart contract framework — so he arguably understood Solana’s developer surface better than almost anyone. The timing was awkward: building a crypto company right after FTX collapsed, led by ex-FTX people, was a hard sell. But Ferrante pushed through.
Backpack’s first product was a browser-extension wallet with a novel feature: xNFTs, executable NFTs that could run full applications inside the wallet. It was a cool idea but didn’t take off. The second product changed everything: Backpack Exchange, a regulated centralized exchange based in Dubai, launched in February 2024. It was the first CEX to specifically court the post-FTX crypto-native power user who wanted CEX speed but didn’t want to trust another Sam.
Backpack Exchange grew fast. Its points program rewarded trading volume and locked SOL deposits. The exchange was one of the first to list new Solana memecoins at scale, giving it a wedge into the 2024 memecoin supercycle. By late 2024 Backpack was doing over $1B in daily volume and had become the default venue for trading newly launched Solana tokens the moment they went live.
The BPX token, when it launches, is expected to be one of the biggest airdrops of the cycle. Backpack’s customer file — crypto-native, high-volume, Solana-first — is exactly the user Memeshot and every other Solana product wants to reach. Armani’s ability to rebuild credibility after the FTX disaster, while hiring from inside the rubble, is one of the more impressive comebacks in crypto. Backpack shows that in this industry, reputation is not permanent and execution still beats history.
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