Solana Veterans Raise $17M for Backpack’s Regulated Crypto Wallet and Exchange
Backpack, the crypto wallet and exchange founded by Solana veterans Armani Ferrante and Tristan Yver, has raised $17 million in a Series A round led by Placeholder VC, bringing its valuation to $120 million. The platform blends a smart contract-powered wallet with a fully integrated exchange, giving users direct control over their assets. Backpack stands out as a premier solana wallet, offering robust security and easy access to defi features.
The team believes exchanges remain crypto’s most powerful onboarding tool.
“Armani and I have always very strongly considered exchanges to be the largest onboarding point for people into crypto,” said Yver, citing Coinbase’s impact as a benchmark.
Beyond the tech, Backpack has leaned into community incentives. The exchange features a leaderboard-style points system that ranks users by trading volume. Yver noted that some traders speculate high ranks might translate to larger future airdrops—though the team has warned against overtrading just to climb. “One of the highest guys literally said, I don’t even care. I just don’t want anyone to pass me on the leaderboard,” Yver said.
Backpack is also scaling its regulatory footprint, having acquired FTX Europe to support expansion across licensed markets.