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Former staff of FTX and Alameda Analysis have secured $17 million to determine Backpack, a cryptocurrency trade. They’re among the many companies making an attempt to bridge the void created by the demise of their earlier employer, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency conglomerate.
Backpack is price $120 million after finishing a Collection A funding spherical; the corporate’s merchandise additionally embrace an NFT assortment and a cryptocurrency pockets, in accordance with a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.
Placeholder VC, a enterprise capital agency that specializes on web3s, led the spherical, through which Hashed, Robotic Ventures, Amber Group, Wintermute, and Selini additionally participated.
Bloomberg: FTX, Alameda Alums Increase $17 Million for Crypto Trade Startup.
— Crypto Crib (@Crypto_Crib_) February 28, 2024
Backpack: Crypto’s Future After FTX Downfall?
Virtually a yr after FTX’s demise, Armani Ferrante and Can Solar co-founded Backpack, which debuted in October of final yr. Ferrante was an early worker at Alameda and now serves as CEO of Backpack; he has been a contributor to Solana for a very long time.
As common counsel for FTX, Solar offered testimony as a authorities witness in Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraudulent scheme. He claimed to be unaware of the corporate’s improper use of consumers’ cryptocurrency and cash. Among the many 40 staff at Backpack are 5 ex-FTX personnel.
Ferrante, Solar, and their staff have efficiently navigated a brand new path regardless of the lingering results of their earlier associations. They’ve amassed a worldwide person base of over 420,000 verified aficionados and obtained a extremely sought-after digital asset service supplier license in Dubai.
Bitcoin is now buying and selling at $63.146. Chart: TradingView.com
Backpack runs a cryptocurrency trade that’s now accessible in the US as of final week. It additionally runs the Mad Lads NFT assortment and a digital pockets platform.
Ferrante emphasised that beginning a bitcoin trade right now could be very completely different from beginning one or two years in the past. The bar for these sorts of initiatives, he feels, has raised significantly, particularly because the FTX disaster.
Backpack is the newest in a line of latest ventures which have sprung as much as capitalize on alternatives left by the autumn of FTX. Launched final yr, EDX Markets is now rising into Singapore with the assist of Citadel Securities and Constancy Digital Belongings. Monetary establishments had been the first targets of Rulematch’s December launch in Europe.
Replace On Sam Bankman-Fried Case
In one other improvement, authorized counsels for Sam Bankman-Fried, who based the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency trade FTX, said this week that their shopper ought to serve a most of six and a half years in jail fairly than the hundred years that probation officers had instructed. They described the previous crypto wunderkind a “a misunderstood first-offender.”
In the meantime, Bankman-Fried has been making stunning assertions whereas incarcerated. After being discovered responsible on crimes associated to the demise of FTX, he has been detained on the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn because the summer season of final yr, awaiting sentencing.
Based on these with information of the scenario, Bankman-Fried has been selling Solana (SOL) investments whereas incarcerated.
Citing his “autism,” the previous mogul has begged the choose to cut back his sentence to a most of six and a half years, expressing his honest apologies for the $8 billion rip-off.
On March 15, federal prosecutors will launch their instructed sentence size; sentencing will happen on March 28.
Featured picture from Pexels, chart from TradingView
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