FTX，Alameda Alums为加密货币交易所初创公司筹集了1700万美元 - 彭博社

Can Sun摄影师：Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg一群前FTX和Alameda Research的员工筹集了1700万美元，用于打造一个名为Backpack的加密货币交易所，加入了寻求填补前雇主Sam Bankman-Fried的加密帝国倒闭留下的空白的初创公司的行列。

总部位于迪拜的Backpack公司还提供加密钱包和一个名为Mad Lads的NFT收藏品，表示已经通过A轮融资达到了1.2亿美元的估值。首席执行官兼联合创始人Armani Ferrante是Alameda Research的早期员工。另一位联合创始人Can Sun是FTX的前总法律顾问。该公司40人团队中有5人是前FTX员工。

该交易所于2023年10月推出，并已在迪拜获得虚拟资产服务提供商许可。这轮融资由加密风险投资公司Placeholder VC领投，Wintermute、Robot Ventures、Selini Capital、Amber Group等公司参与。该公司正在进入美国的部分州。

“如今创建一个交易所与一两年前创建一个交易所大不相同，”Ferrante说。“尤其是在FTX的灾难之后，我认为现在的门槛要高得多。”

在FTX倒闭后的一段时间，“我们曾参加过商务会议，由于我们以前在FTX的工作经验，对方决定认为与我们合作太过风险，”Sun说。“自那时以来，我们没有那么频繁地看到这种情况。”

The Backpack exchange has more than 420,000 verified users globally, and is popular among Chinese-speaking users, the company said. “There’s a huge market in Asia for crypto trading venues,” Ferrante said. It reached $6.53 billion of one-side trading volume in February, according to the company.

Backpack is among recent debuts that are capitalizing on opportunities created by the demise of FTX. EDX Markets, the crypto-trading venue backed by Citadel Securities and Fidelity Digital Assets, went live last year and is 扩张 into Singapore. In Europe, Rulematch was 在去年12月推出，目标是金融机构。

Ferrante, who studied computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, got into crypto when he met Bankman-Fried and joined Alameda to work on its trading system during a brief stint in 2018. Later, he became a key developer on the Solana blockchain. A startup he created lost about 80% of its operating capital on FTX when the exchange failed.

Sun testified during Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial in New York in October. He said he was unaware of the company’s misuse of customer funds until its final days and declined to come up with a legal justification to explain the missing customer money when asked by Bankman-Fried. Sun had a non-prosecution agreement with the US government.

Claire Zhang, a former FTX employee and Ferrante’s wife, is also working for Backpack, focusing on operations. Another core team member, Tristan Yver, was formerly with FTX US.