VCs are backing a crypto startup led by former FTX and Alameda Analysis workers as a part of a brand new crypto alternate.
In a sequence A funding spherical, alums from FTX and Alameda raised $17 million for a crypto alternate referred to as Backpack, which valued the corporate at $120 million and pulled capital funding from companies like Wintermute and Amber Group.
Backpack was launched in October final 12 months, almost a 12 months after FTX collapsed, and is co-founded by Armani Ferrante and Can Solar. Ferrante serves as Backpack’s CEO and was an early Alameda worker.
Solar, who testified as a authorities witness in Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud, labored as FTX’s normal counsel and mentioned he was oblivious to the agency’s unlawful use of buyer’s crypto and funds. Backpack has a 40-person workforce, 5 of whom are former FTX workers.
Ferrante said expectations and scrutiny are actually larger concerning constructing a crypto alternate following FTX’s saga. Initially, entities steered away from investing in Backpack, however issues have improved following final 12 months’s conviction in a New York courthouse, Ferrante famous.
Backpack is a Dubai-based alternate that has already onboarded 420,000 customers worldwide. The corporate recorded $6.5 billion in one-way buying and selling quantity this month and is reportedly seeing demand in Asian markets because it hopes to say some market share left behind by FTX.
Different companies are additionally speeding in to fill the hole, notably for skilled merchants, considered one of FTX’s major buyer bases. As an illustration, Constancy-based EDX Markets launched in 2023 with enlargement into Singapore.
Ferrante and Solar are working previous their Alameda ties, however Bankman-Fried faces repercussions following a court docket’s responsible verdict. The previous tycoon has pleaded with a decide to shorten his sentence to a most of six-and-a-half years, citing his autism and saying he’s “deeply sorry” for the $8 billion fraud.
Federal prosecutors will publish their beneficial sentence size on Mar. 15, with sentencing occurring on Mar. 28.