Backpack

Backpack started in 2022 as a self-custodial wallet business; its founder, Armani Ferrante, had earlier developed Anchor, a smart contract framework for Solana. The early product combined asset management with an application gateway, trying to let users run on-chain applications inside the wallet through executable NFTs (xNFTs).⁠[1][2]

On September 28, 2022, Coral, the development team behind Backpack, announced a $20 million strategic round co-led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto, with participation from Multicoin CapitalMulticoin CapitalMulticoin Capital began operations on October 1, 2017, and invests mainly in crypto companies and protocols across public and private markets. It runs a Master Fund that invests mainly in tokens, as well as venture funds that back early-stage companies.Open the full entry, Anagram and others. The funds were to be used for hiring and launching the flagship Backpack wallet, continuing its product direction around SolanaSolanaSolana is a proof-of-stake (PoS) public blockchain designed for high throughput and low latency, with SOL as its native token; it was developed by Solana Labs and launched Mainnet Beta in March 2020. It is known for design choices such as its Proof of History clock and parallel execution, suffered several network-wide outages in its early years, and became one of the crypto industry’s focal points in events including the FTX collapse, U.S. SEC lawsuits, and the listing of Solana ETFs.Open the full entry developer tools and application experience.⁠[2]

After FTX collapsed in November 2022, Backpack’s operating funds were severely hit. According to the company’s later historical review, it lost about $14.5 million, or 88% of its operating funds at the time. The team then continued developing products with limited funds.⁠[1]

In April 2023, Backpack launched the Mad Lads NFT collection on Solana and announced the completion of the mint on April 25. The project combined executable NFT technology with character collectibles and gradually became part of the community alongside Backpack’s wallet and exchange.⁠[3][4]

On October 30, 2023, Trek Labs Ltd FZE (Backpack) received a VASP license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), registered for exchange services. Official disclosures limit the entity’s licensed scope to spot services and state that the Dubai license does not cover futures or margin trading; derivatives businesses in other regions are handled by the relevant entities under their own regulatory arrangements.⁠[5][6]

In November 2023, after obtaining the Dubai license, Backpack launched a beta version of its cryptocurrency exchange. The brand thus added a centralized trading business alongside its self-custodial wallet, later developing an account system combining spot, derivatives and lending.⁠[1][7]

On February 28, 2024, the Backpack ecosystem companies announced the first joint closing of a $17 million strategic Series A at a combined valuation of $120 million. Placeholder VC led the round, with participation from Hashed, Robot Ventures, Amber Group, Wintermute Ventures, Selini Capital and Delphi Digital, among others; the financing covered the wallet, the exchange and related ecosystem businesses.⁠[4]

On January 7, 2025, Backpack announced the acquisition of FTX EU, planning to use its European regulatory foundation to expand its derivatives business and handle the return of former customers’ funds. The next day, FTX issued a clarification saying the U.S. bankruptcy court had not approved the acquisition by Backpack and that the arrangement involved former insiders transferring the business on to Backpack indirectly; FTX also stressed that Backpack was not participating in the overall creditor distribution under the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings.⁠[8][9]

In May 2025, Backpack announced that former FTX EU customers could verify their identity through its European business and request withdrawal of their euro balances. This process covers FTX EU fiat balances and related settled positions; crypto assets and other claims involving FTX International remain subject to a separate claims process.⁠[10]

On August 18, 2025, Backpack introduced a daily proof-of-reserves mechanism built and verified with OtterSec. The accompanying explanation described using zero-knowledge proofs to reconcile assets and customer liabilities while protecting individual account data, allowing users to check that their balances are included in the proof.⁠[1][11]

On September 8, 2025, Backpack EU announced its launch, offering perpetual futures to European users. According to official information, the operating entity is Trek Labs Europe Ltd, registered in Cyprus, regulated by CySEC and providing investment services under MiFID II. In the launch announcement the company said the FTX EU acquisition had received CySEC approval in January of that year and that it had since continued building its team, compliance structure and products.⁠[12][13]

On October 15, 2025, Backpack announced that it would integrate with Superstate’s Opening Bell platform, planning to offer users outside the United States issuer-backed tokenized listed stocks. The two companies said the specific stocks and launch dates would be announced later. The partnership emphasized the securities rights of the shares themselves and the on-chain issuance structure, extending Backpack’s direction from crypto asset trading into traditional capital markets.⁠[14]

On February 18, 2026, Backpack launched a new Lend page connecting peer-to-peer lending with its unified margin account. According to the product description, lent assets earn interest and can serve as trading collateral, while borrowing must still meet collateral requirements; the design puts trading, lending and risk management into a single account framework.⁠[7]

On March 5, 2026, Backpack appointed Mark Wetjen as president of Backpack US to advance its U.S. market strategy. Wetjen is a former commissioner and acting chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has held management roles at DTCC and MIAX Futures. The announcement linked his arrival to building regulated market infrastructure.⁠[15]

On March 9, 2026, Backpack described a potential IPO priority allocation program for long-term users, alongside its previously announced token-to-equity conversion mechanism. The company uses factors such as holding period and level of participation in designing the program; these arrangements are contingent on a future listing and applicable conditions, and the announcement does not mean that the company has listed or that users already hold shares in it.⁠[16][17]

On March 23, 2026, Backpack announced spot listing arrangements for the BP token on Solana. BP is used for platform fee discounts, ecosystem participation and other benefits; equity conversion belongs to a separate participant program that requires eligibility and ongoing staking, among other conditions. Official documents state that the reserved equity pool is set by an initial number of shares and that future share issuance may still cause dilution.⁠[18][17]

On June 2, 2026, Backpack announced that it would launch Backpack Securities the following week, combining traditional securities brokerage, tokenized distribution and a unified asset account. The initial design included U.S. stocks and ETFs, round-the-clock trading five days a week, and issuance of tokenized securities on Solana in partnership with Sunrise, linking securities rights in brokerage accounts with on-chain transfer.⁠[19]

On July 10, 2026, Backpack announced 24-hour, seven-day-a-week trading in selected U.S. stocks for international investors, with an initial list including SpaceXSpaceXSpaceX is a company founded by Elon Musk in 2002 whose businesses include space transportation, Starlink satellite communications and artificial intelligence. It went public in 2026 under the ticker SPCX.Open the full entry, Micron and SanDiskSanDiskSanDisk, currently branded Sandisk, is a US flash-memory and storage company whose business originated with SunDisk in 1988. Western Digital acquired the former company in 2016; its flash business became the independent public company Sandisk Corporation in 2025.Open the full entry. The company also supports tokenized versions of these assets on Solana and described a one-to-one conversion mechanism between the securities rights and their on-chain representation; availability remains subject to regional and product-specific conditions.⁠[20][21]

On September 2, 2026, Backpack announced the appointment of Kyle SamaniKyle SamaniKyle Samani is a cryptocurrency investor who co-founded the crypto investment firm Multicoin Capital with Tushar Jain in 2017 and served as its managing partner. He is known for leading all three of Solana’s financing rounds before its mainnet launch, and stepped back from day-to-day management of the firm in February 2026. Since September 2025 he has been chairman of Forward Industries, a Nasdaq-listed company whose treasury is built around SOL.Open the full entry, co-founder of Multicoin Capital and an early investor in Solana, to the board of directors of Backpack US, linking the appointment to its accelerating U.S. expansion and tokenized equities strategy. Armani Ferrante said Samani’s deep experience in building and shaping decentralized financial networks, together with his longstanding advocacy for clear, workable rules for the crypto industry, made him an ideal addition to the board. Samani said the future of global capital markets is not DeFi versus TradFi but integrating the best of both: institutional risk controls with on-chain efficiency and transparency.⁠[22][22][22][22][22]

Samani said the same day that when Ferrante asked him to join the board a few months earlier he was not yet an investor; he agreed immediately and soon invested $1 million, and over the following two months, as his conviction in Backpack grew, he invested another $3 million, for a total of $4 million, his largest single angel investment to date.⁠[23][23][23][23]