Between all this madness, Backpack has reached the end of its first chapter. Following four seasons of activity and six epilogue weeks of final points redistribution, the platform has confirmed its Token Generation Event (TGE) for March 23. This milestone marks the distribution of its native token, rewarding a community that generated a total of 426.4M points. As the broader market contracts, this launch stands out as a rare moment of expansion, transitioning from a points-based program into a liquid, equity-linked economy

Throughout it all, the Mad Lads community kept showing up. Whether reacting to ecosystem changes, supporting builders, or simply keeping the culture alive online and offline, Lads stayed engaged across every corner of Solana. Even in uncertain times, the WAO spirit remains strong!

Lads in Balkan

Lads and Backpack supporters gathered in Zagreb, Croatia, for a very meaty dinner

Everyone had a great time, and the most courageous Lads went out for a memorable night in Zagreb’s bars (I heard some wild stories)

Mad Lads Directory

Chocoo (it’s strange to talk about myself in the third person) just released a new update on the Mad Lads Hub: the Directory. It’s designed to connect Lads even further: https://www.madlads-hub.xyz/directory

Login with Discord and link your wallet by signing a transaction or by making a small $SOL transfer to create your profile. This is the perfect place to showcase your skills and flex your badges!

Backpack News

New Listing

A new crypto pair has been available on Backpack since March, and it has been positively welcomed by the community

• ZEC (Zcash)

Little bricks over little bricks

As Armani Ferrante likes to say, there’s a “new little brick available”. This month, so many little bricks were added that the wall is truly starting to look solid!

More leverage

First of all, BTC perps are now tradable with up to 75x leverage

User-interface upgrades

The Backpack UI saw many upgrades in March. For example, you can now switch the app to light mode

or consult the chart and order book while setting up your trades on mobile

finally, the new “Earn” tab is now also available on mobile

0% Fees

Enjoy 0% fees on Backpack Wallet for swaps and bridges on every supported network

Twitch Stream: The Comeback

For the OGs among you, you may remember “Sunday Church”, where Armani would stream and discuss various subjects every week

On March 11, Armani launched a new stream, “Pre-TGE Catch Up”, where some serious alpha was shared

During the stream, we finally learned the TGE date: March 23. Most importantly, there is no team allocation, no KOLs, and no exchange-specific reserves. All tokens are going directly into the hands of the users who earned points!

You may have also read some so-called “KOLs” talking about how the Backpack token would be used as collateral to provide max liquidity. Armani explicitly said this is a dangerous use case and it won't be happening for now

While many products currently offer “on-chain stocks”, these are usually just synthetics. Backpack will offer real stocks, allowing you to use them as collateral and even move them around. Even more exciting? Backpack is bringing IPOs on-chain in partnership with Superstate

The Backpack Card is officially on the way and is already being internally tested by the team

Expansion into the United States of America remains a highly requested subject by the community. Armani announced that it won't happen immediately, but the team is working very hard on it. In case you missed the news, Mark Wetjen, the former Chairman of the CFTC, has joined as Backpack US President. This move demonstrates their commitment to expanding in the USA

Backpack is always one or two steps ahead. When asked why they moved from the USA to Japan, Armani explained that at one point, 50% of global BTC trading volume came from Japan. Although a wave of hacks and new regulations eventually pushed many crypto companies out, the Japanese market is poised for a strong comeback

Factoring in the absence of major US exchanges in the region and the expectation that Japan’s crypto tax rate will drop from 55% to 20%, Backpack anticipated these developments early. They established a local office, built a compliance team, and spent three years pursuing the licenses required for JPY on/off-ramps and local bank integration, allowing retail users to buy cryptocurrency seamlessly. Furthermore, Backpack is pursuing licenses in Brazil to support PIX and access fiat payment rails there too

FDV at launch? While many are speculating on the Backpack FDV, Armani was very blunt: he doesn’t care about the Day 1 price. He said that those focusing strictly on the opening FDV are usually looking for a quick “dump,” whereas he is building for the long term (think in months and years), not just the first 24 hours of trading

Will there be a “Token to Equity” pipeline? Yes. Users who stake their Backpack tokens will receive priority allocation for the Backpack IPO based on their stake, duration, and usage. Armani confirmed that his ultimate goal is an IPO, and he believes the probability of it happening is high

The Vision: To create a single, seamless app that combines checking, savings, card services, and trading… BACKPACK

The Vault

Backpack has officially opened its Vault. While currently capped at a $500000 TVL, this is set to become a core part of the Backpack ecosystem

How it works for users:

1. Deposit: When you deposit USD into the Vault, you receive BLT tokens

2. Ownership: These tokens represent your “pro-rata” share of the total Vault

3. Share Price: The value of the Vault fluctuates based on its trading performance. As the Vault grows or shrinks, the share price of the BLT token changes accordingly

4. Redemption: When you want to withdraw, the current share price determines how much USD you get back for your BLT

Rewards Summary

Log in to your Backpack account to view and share your reward summary

Lads around the world

A real Mad Lad was spotted by Miho during an Openclaw event

Nikki participated in a “Crypto Payments 101 for First-Time Web3 Users” workshop, where she noticed that Backpack Wallet was the recommended choice

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• Can Sun (Backpack co-founder) X Decrypt - The Legal Strategy Behind Crypto Exchange Backpack’s Token-to-Equity Program

https://decrypt.co/359510/legal-strategy-behind-crypto-exchange-backpack-token-equity-program

• Armani Ferrante x Joe Takayama

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

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On the broader market side, volatility picked up as uncertainty returned. Headlines once again drove sentiment, and traders had to navigate a mix of macro tension and shifting liquidity conditions. It was not a quiet month, and caution clearly dominated the mood…

Throughout it all, the Mad Lads community kept showing up. Whether reacting to ecosystem changes, supporting builders, or simply keeping the culture alive online and offline, Lads stayed engaged across every corner of Solana. Even in uncertain times, the WAO spirit remains strong!

We Are One (%)

On January 30th, Backpack announced that 25% of the token supply would be released at TGE with 24% allocated to traders and 1% to Mad Lads holders

Reactions were mixed, to say the least. Some celebrated loudly, others started fudding just as loudly. The timeline went from full hype to full skepticism in a matter of hours…

Little did the doubters know… that 1% was only part of the story

On February 23rd, Backpack dropped another major announcement: 20% of Backpack equity would be allocated to users who stake their tokens for one year

Congrats! You’re officially part of the MADDEST 1% tier

Backpack News

New Listing

February was packed with new listings, with five new trading pairs added to the Backpack Exchange. Each one arriving with its own quests and rewards to keep traders excited

• ZAMA (Zama)

• XMR (Monero)

• PAXG (Paxos)

• CC (Canton)

• STRK (Starknet)

25% on TGE

Backpack’s tokenomics follow one clear principle: insiders shouldn’t be able to dump on users. No founder, employee, or VC receives liquid tokens before the product reaches true “escape velocity”

For Backpack, that goal is simple: build toward a U.S. IPO (and remember, if you stake your token for 1 year, you’ll be able to exchange them for 20% of Backpack equity)

Until then, the team doesn’t unlock tokens. In fact, no founder, executive, or investor has a direct token allocation. The team owns equity in the company, and the company holds its token allocation in a corporate treasury locked until at least one year post-IPO. No shortcuts!

On the other side, liquid tokens go to users. Every major milestone such as new regions, new products, predictions, stocks, cards etc… acts as a growth lever. Tokens unlock predictably to active users, fueling expansion the same way points powered Seasons 1–4

The model is simple: growth must always outweigh dilution

Half the world is still to be opened. Some of the biggest products are still ahead

Tax tools

Backpack has partnered with Taxbit to offer compliant digital asset tax reporting

More information will be shared in the near future

Lending

Backpack just upgraded its lending product and got a brand new page

Lend USD, BTC, ETH, SOL and more to earn yield, use those lends as collateral, trade perps, predictions, spot-margin, or borrow all from a single subaccount

With optional auto-lend, your idle balances automatically start earning while staying fully usable across the entire Backpack product suite

Yield is transparent and unsubsidized:

• Stablecoin yield passed directly from the issuer

• SOL & MON staking yield from Backpack validators

• Borrow interest paid directly to lenders

Simple, Capital efficient, Very Backpack

Price Alerts

Small brick, but a good brick, as Armani would say

Price alerts are now live on Backpack mobile. To use them, just tap the bell icon on the trade page and set your alerts

Vault is coming

Armani got bored on a Sunday afternoon and decided to vibe-code a light mode for Backpack Exchange…

But the sneaky man had another plan… it was really just a teaser for the upcoming Vault!

Happy Chinese New Year

祝大家新年快乐！

Backpack merch (but not to grab)

In February, two amazing Backpack merch items caught my eye on the timeline… sadly, they are not available to everyone (one, you could do it too tho!)

Still, we can all enjoy admiring them, right?

Backpack Wallet Background

Did you notice? You can now use any of your NFTs as a background in your Backpack Wallet and even on the Exchange

Personalize your interface and bring your favorite NFT front and center every time you log in (even animated ones!)

Upcoming Backpack Event

Mark your calendar and secure your invitation now for the Money Motion VIP Edition, taking place in Zagreb, Croatia on March 10th

https://luma.com/dr1m232e

Mad Lads / Backpack around the world

Madrid

Spain did it again. Almost one year after their last event with La Familia, Lads and Backpack traders were invited to an exclusive VIP dinner, where they shared an amazing evening together and got an early glimpse into what the future holds for Backpack

Milano

In the previous edition, we mentioned that the MAD Tour would stop in Milan, Italy for an amazing night… and it delivered

The community enjoyed great food and drinks, connected with fellow Lads and traders, and of course made sure to grab their red Backpack before leaving the event

Taipei

If you were in Taipei on Saturday, February 7th, 2026, you definitely shouldn’t have missed the Backpack Wallet Meetup. Attendees had the chance to listen to Armani, meet the team, and grab some exclusive merch!

Hong-Kong

During Consensus, Backpack enthusiasts were able to secure a private invitation to an exclusive Backpack event

Not only did they learn more about the tokenomics and the future of Backpack, but the insights were delivered by Armani himself!

Friendly reminder, all the events can be found on https://www.madlads-hub.xyz/events-list

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• Armani X Solana - TradFi and Crypto Are Merging Into One

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

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On the broader crypto front, January was relatively calm compared to the volatility we’ve seen in recent months. While global news and geopolitical events continued to dominate headlines, the crypto markets mostly moved sideways, giving builders and communities some breathing room after an intense end of year

Throughout the month, the Mad Lads community never lost momentum. From online discussions to real-world presence, Lads continued to show up, share highlights, and stay deeply connected to every corner of the Solana ecosystem, proving once again that the culture doesn’t slow down, even in quieter markets

Never Gonna Give You Up

It started with Rick. It ends with Rick.

The Mad Lads account delivered yet another perfect Rick Roll by posting an “announcement” claiming that no Backpack airdrop was coming

New Lads, especially those who don’t study Mad News or check madlads-hub.xyz, panicked instantly… only to realize they had been Rick Rolled

Following this, Armani posted an announcement in Discord :

NFTs might be dead, but Mad Lads are just getting started in 2026

What’s the ticker?

On January 8th, the Backpack account posted an image packed with hidden clues and Easter eggs

The Mad Lads community and Backpack traders immediately switched into detective mode, carefully dissecting every detail to uncover hints about what’s coming next

Among the discoveries were several intriguing features and milestones:

• Vaults

• Backpack cards

• Season 4 ending on January 28th

• Full operations across the EU, Japan, and the USA

• Stock exchange integration

• Two additional <REDACTED> products

• A Prediction Market

• A banking revolution with zero-fee fiat on and off-ramps

• Grid Bots 2.0

Some of these, like the Prediction Market, were quickly identified and will be explored in more detail later in this article

Backpack News

New Listing

January was a bit quieter on the listings side for Backpack, but we still saw a few new pairs added (and a few pairs removed), each one arriving with its own quests and rewards (or even rank drop) to keep traders excited

• LIT (Lighter)

• FOGO (Fogo)

• SKR (Seeker)

Backpack Wallet now natively supports the Fogo network, further expanding its multichain reach. With seamless access to another ecosystem, “Everything in Your Backpack” has never felt more true

Oh, and by the way, Backpack now supports USDT deposits and withdrawals on BNB Chain directly on the exchange

Prediction Markets by Backpack

Prediction markets have always had a structural problem. Even when traders have strong conviction or an edge, capital often ends up locked for long periods of time. Funds placed into a prediction cannot be reused elsewhere, meaning opportunity cost eats into potential gains. In many cases, being right is not enough to be profitable

The Backpack Solution: Unified Prediction Portfolio

Backpack introduced a Unified Prediction Portfolio, where prediction markets are fully integrated into the same cross-margin, cross-collateral system used across the platform

Instead of locking funds, capital can be shared across:

• Spot trading

• Spot margin

• Borrow and lending

• Perpetual futures

• Prediction markets

• Crypto assets

• Fiat balances

All of this lives inside a single sub-account, powered by Backpack’s existing risk engine

Built Natively, Not Wrapped

This is not another wrapper around platforms like Kalshi or Polymarket. Backpack’s prediction market is built natively from the ground up, with every position tokenized, risk-profiled, and managed together

This design unlocks entirely new workflows. Traders can quote on prediction prices, get filled, and instantly hedge exposure using perpetual futures, all within the same margin account. No balance transfers, no capital silos, and no external dependencies

What Comes Next

The initial rollout focus on validating the fundamentals. Backpack’s team is prioritizing stability, ensuring the unified portfolio works flawlessly alongside the risk engine. From there, the beta will gradually expand, new features will be added, and the number of supported markets will scale

More importantly, entirely new mechanisms are already in development. Prediction markets are no longer an isolated product. With Backpack, they become a fully integrated part of a unified financial platform

$0 onramp. $0 offramp.

With this bold headline, Backpack decided to shake up the competition in January. Based on a $10000 on-ramp, swapping to USDC, swapping back to USD, and then off-ramping again, Backpack comes out with $0 in fees, setting a new benchmark for cost-efficient crypto trading

Not satisfied yet? Backpack went even further by introducing Robinhood-style zero trading fees on spot purchases. Simply enable the “Convert Beta” feature in your settings, and instantly convert your USD into any supported token with no trading fees

Zero fees swap and bridge

You can now swap and bridge from Solana with $0 fees directly from your Backpack wallet

Backpack becomes the first wallet to truly let you receive the exact same amount of USDC on the destination chain as you had on Solana

Grid Bot Beta Stats

As you know, the Grid Bot beta has been live for over a month now on both desktop and mobile. Adoption has been strong

As of January 4th, the stats were already impressive:

• 1581 active bots running

• 2763 bots created

• $16930224 in liquidity being provided

With Grid Bot 2.0 already on the horizon, it’s clear that this feature is only getting started, and the next iteration will be huge

Community event

Join the community and be one of the Lads who will snag a prize

Post an art or meme about Mad Lads x Backpack on X, tag @MadLads and @Backpack, then drop your tweet link in Discord with #LadsxBackpack1

Community vote decides the winners and the contest ends Jan 31st 2026

More informations in Discord in #community-announcements

MAD Tour - Milano

The first official Backpack Italy Meetup is happening on January 31st

What to expect?

• Food

• Merch

• Talks

• Trading competitions

A great chance to meet the community IRL and share some Backpack vibes

https://luma.com/ckby7dky

Friendly reminder, all the events can be found on https://www.madlads-hub.xyz/events-list

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

This time we don’t have podcast to share

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

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A single event doesn’t define an entire month, but Breakpoint certainly shaped December’s rhythm. Key moments included the official launch of Firedancer on Solana mainnet, demonstrations of new institutional real-world asset (RWA) products, and talks about Solana’s growing role as both a blockchain technology platform and a settlement layer for traditional finance

Through all of this, the Mad Lads community kept its spirit strong both online and offline, showing up, sharing highlights and staying plugged into every corner of the Solana ecosystem

Another Lads union

As some of you may know, if you’ve been following us long enough, we’ve already witnessed a couple of Mad Lads getting married

This week, we had another special moment to celebrate, as one Lad officially got engaged to his Lassie

https://x.com/TDoxys/status/2000783530511733130

Solana under DDoS

Do you remember the good old days when the Solana chain was often slowing down or even shutting off completely? Those times are behind us

Solana recently withstood the fourth-largest DDoS attack ever recorded on any distributed system, and most users didn’t even notice it. The network handled it smoothly, proving just how far Solana has come in terms of performance and resilience

Backpack News

Monad Validator

If you received a Monad airdrop or picked up a bag, you can stake your $MON with one of the very few 0% fee validators… Backpack!

You can also lend MON on the Exchange and earn a 16% APY all while being able to use it as collateral for perps, spot-margin, and borrow lending

New Listing

December was a bit quieter on the listings side for Backpack, but we still saw a few new pairs added, each one arriving with its own quests and rewards to keep traders excited

• MON (Monad)

• STABLE (StableChain)

With these new listings, Backpack now supports USDT transfers on :

• Solana

• Ethereum

• Tron

• Arbitrum

• Optimism

• Polygon

• Sei

• Aptos

• Plasma

• Monad

• Stable

  

Exchange Features

Backpack rolled out a very solid and awaited feature, the Grid Bots!

Traders can now natively and seamlessly :

• Automate repetitive trading without APIs or external tools

• Capture volatility in sideways markets

• Combine active trading with passive yield

• Keep full custody of funds inside Backpack

• Reduce screen time while staying active 24/7

Backpack’s goal is to make advanced trading tools accessible to everyone, not just power users. While external bots exist, they often require API keys, separate interfaces, and added risk. Grid Bots remove that friction entirely by running natively inside your Backpack account

Find more informations on https://learn.backpack.exchange/blog/grid-bots-on-backpack

Another feature was introduced this month but has flown a bit under the radar so far: withdrawal delays. You can now configure custom withdrawal delays directly on your account

This feature is especially useful in the event of a hack or device compromise, as it gives you a time window to cancel unauthorized withdrawals before funds leave your account, adding an extra layer of security to your Backpack experience

The End Game 〇△□

Backpack hosted a live perps trading competition in Korea, inspired by the Squid Game theme, in collaboration with ReboundX

https://x.com/Backpack/status/2001583700736405622

Backpack Mobile

If you read our October edition, you may remember the special deal launched by Backpack on Solana Mobile, where new users received a $1000 fee credit voucher

Two months later, the metrics are looking very promising :

• 3754 users

• $13.8B volume generated

• $2M fees reimbursed

S4 Updates

Season 4 is officially underway and currently in its Week 4. Traders are reporting that it feels easier to snag points this season, so if you haven’t jumped in yet, now might be a great time to give it a go!

It’s also worth highlighting that during Week 2 of Season 4, Backpack Exchange reached $250 billion in total perps trading volume

PnL Royale

During Week 5 of Season 4, take your shot in PnL Royale and compete for a share of the $100K reward pool

Head to your Quests tab and opt in to get started!

Breakpoint ‘25

From the 11th to the 13th of December 2025, Solana Breakpoint took place in Abu Dhabi

In this edition of Mad News, you’ll find a recap of everything that happened and all the great news that was announced (sorry in advance if we missed anything)

Breakpoint ‘26

Let’s kick off this section by revealing where the next edition will take place

We hope you like beans, eggs, and tea, because we’re heading straight to London

The venue

Breakpoint 2025 took place at the Etihad Arena, offering everything attendees could possibly need

From food and drinks to activities, conferences, and even dedicated relaxation areas, the venue was designed to keep everyone comfortable, energized, and fully immersed into the Solana ecosystem

Eye-catching activities

Over the three days of the conference, countless activities and side events stood out. Solana Spaces definitely raised the bar this year with an absolutely stacked booth experience

You could :

• Join Bald Point to get a fresh haircut and officially enter the Solana Bald Gang

• Give in to your shopping fever by grabbing exclusive merch

• Test your luck at the gacha machines and pull legendary collectible cards like Pokemon, Pudgy, and more

On top of that, BitRobot Network brought the action with an activity featuring robot fights straight out of a Real Steel movie scene

Honorable mention to Aurory and Pudgy, who both delivered truly outstanding booths as well

News & Announcements

Breakpoint is always the event where project announce exciting new things

This is also the place to be if you want to see winners of hackathons and other activities in live

Let’s do a small recap of the Solana ecosystem announcements :

• After 3 years of development, Firedancer is now live on Solana Mainnet

• The country of Bhutan is tokenizing their sovereign gold reserves on Solana

• Kamino announces fixed rate, fixed term borrowin and borrow intents

• Phantom will allow users to trade Kalshi prediction markets directly from their wallet

• LightProtocol announces a new token standard 200x cheaper than SPL

• DeFiCarrot announces turbo tokens, leveraged exposure with liquidation risk

• Figure launches PRIME a token yielding 8%

• bitget will have every solana token available for 100M users through UEX

• ChinaAMC_HQ will launch Asia’s first and largest MM fund (HKD, USD, RMB) deploying on solana

• orogoldapp launches StGOLD, yield primitive for gold

• FlashTrade will have commodities, metals and equities soon

• project0 will launch a token in Q1 2026

• Ryder_ID launches a hardware wallet

• CopperxHQ launches Kosh (neobank)

• PythNetwork announces Pyth Reserve, a new token flywheel

• DriftProtocol announces DLP (new liquidity provider token)

• metaplex launches Genesis SDK

• Titan_Exchange to launch LO

• ranger_finance to launch their token through MetaDao

• JupiterExchange announces $1M in rewards for swapping in Ultra as well as VRGD, Terminal, JupUSD, and offerbook

• coinbase launches solana DEX

• ellipsis_labs launches Phoenix Perpetuals, a new high performance solana native DEX

• animocabrands to tokenize their equity on Solana

• solflare shield (hardware wallet) is live and launches MagicAI, a way to interact with your wallet with conversations

• cryptocom adding more Solana based projects

• osldotcom launches USDGo (new stablecoin)

• keel_fi announces $50M fund for Solana RWAs

• Aurory announces the rename of their game, Amiko Legends

• humafinance to provide Solana-based stablecoin liquidity for global rare earth mineral trades

• solanamobile partners to offer a hardware integration kit for chipmakers of over 2 billion Android phones

• uraniumdigital_ trade uranium on solana

• heliuslabs launches getTransactionsForAddress, a Solana API for sorting and querying transactions by wallet address

• helium is launching in Mexico and Brazil

• Arcium launches Cerberus Protocol, a practical dishonest majority protocol for zero-trust

• wormdotwtf launches leveraged prediction markets

• sanctumso launches a mobile application (join here)

• glider_fi launches an AI investing app that editing strategies without gas

• tixprotocol has rwa tickets for sports, concerts…

• Kalshi tokenized their prediction markets on Solana

• streamflow_fi partners with m0 to announce USD+, a Solana stablecoin backed 1:1 by US Treasuries with daily yield payouts

• SquadsProtocol debuts Smart Transactions, a new autonomous finance tool

• sendaifun announces Suzi, an AI investment banker for Solana

S/O to @molusol for sharing those infos

Colosseum Hackathon

On December 13th, Colosseum took the stage to announce the winners of their latest hackathon

All the following winners got an award of $25000 USDC

• DeFi Track : YumiFinance, an onchain “buy now, pay later” solution

• Stable Track : MCPay, an open payment infrastructure connecting MCP and x402

• Infra Track: SEER, a transaction debugging developer platform on Solana

• Consumer Track : Capitola, a prediction markets meta-aggreagator

• RWA Track : Autonom, a specialized oracle for RWAs

• Undefined Track : attn.markets, a protocol for tokenizing revenues to bank onchain businesses

and the Grand Champion is Unruggable, a new hardware wallet and companion app built for Solana with a $30000 USDC award

Solflare Community Spotlights

Solflare introduced something new this year with its Community Spotlights awards campaign. Users were able to submit their votes online across multiple award categories

Here are the winners :

• OPOS : Solana Spaces

• DeFi : Reflect

• Consumer App : Collector Crypt

• Trading : Ranger Finance

• Gaming : Play Solana

• Web2 Bridgoors : Bitwise

• Most Viral X Campaign : Pudgy Penguins

• Collaboration of the year : Solana Gaming

• Solana Ambassador : Mert

• Content Creator : Jussy

• Artist : Wut

• Most Degen Moment : Sol Big Brain

• The People’s Award : Raposa

• Memelord : Bangerz

Watch the full video on X https://x.com/solana/status/1999842996867489887

Rare pictures of Lads and a fan

During the event, Mad Lads holders were everywhere, proudly posting photos of themselves… with a fan

End of the year

As the year comes to an end, we want to sincerely thank everyone who took the time to read, engage, and support Mad News throughout the year

Your feedback, energy, and involvement mean everything to us

We wish you a happy New Year filled with health, success, and plenty of wins both on-chain and off

Stay MAD
Chocoo

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

This time we don’t have podcast to share but some interviews from Armani on stage at Breakpoint :

• Fireside: Backpack’s Armani Ferrante

• https://x.com/solana/status/1999394619868741985

• https://x.com/solana/status/1999417693833699452

• https://x.com/11AMdotclub/status/1999509553290051976 (go to 10:05)

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

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A single trend does not define a whole month. November still delivered plenty of exciting moments, including the long-awaited Monad Mainnet launch, early access to exclusive rewards through Backpack, continued upgrades to the Backpack Wallet, and the launch of Season 4 after an explosive finish to Season 3

The Mad Lads community continued to make its mark both online and offline. Between creative content on X and strong representation at global events, the Lads proved once again that their presence across the ecosystem is unmatched and that they are truely MAD

Crypto Culture

Mad Lads continue to keep their place in Web3 culture, and this month we got one of the coolest proofs. A full Mad Lads was painted on a wall in Argentina, turning a local street into a piece of real-world crypto art

https://x.com/BasedBuilder007/status/1990929770436071581

Backpack News

New Listing

November was a bit quieter on the listings side for Backpack, but we still saw a few new pairs added, each one arriving with its own quests and rewards to keep traders excited

• APR (aPriori)

• MET (Meteora)

• PAXG (PAX Gold)

• ZRO (LayerZero)

Wallet Features

Backpack rolled out two solid updates for the wallet this month. The first is a brand-new bridge tab UX, making cross-chain bridging smoother than ever. You can now bridge effortlessly right inside Backpack, view your full bridge history, and even resume paused transactions if anything gets paused

The second update, and honestly the coolest one, is the ability to import multiple seed phrases directly into the Backpack wallet app. This lets you organize all your wallets in one place and manage everything seamlessly from a single interface

S3 Ends, S4 Begins

Season 3 officially ended on November 20th, 2025, closing out with more than $300B in total trading volume. To mark the moment, Armani hosted an AMA in the Backpack Discord, sharing a massive amount of information about Season 4 and the long-term vision for Backpack

Season 3: The Foundation

Armani described Season 3 as the phase where Backpack’s infrastructure finally matured at scale
A few key achievements:

• A scalable, battle-tested margin and risk system

• Deep integration between the wallet and exchange

• Support for new L1s on day one (deposits, withdrawals, perps, spot, lending)

• A cross-chain liquidity framework designed for long-term expansion

Backpack’s philosophy remains clear: It’s a complete financial product where users can hold assets long-term, bridge stables, manage risk, and use multiple chains all inside one Backpack

Season 4: Liquidity, Liquidity and Liquidity

Season 4 starts immediately after Season 3, no downtime

One of the biggest lessons from October’s market chaos was simple:
Exchanges need liquidity of last resort

Backpack intentionally avoided reliance on FTX-style market makers. Instead, it built a neutral, invariant-driven system. But when several market makers vanished during volatility, it became clear: Backpack needs its own tools to stabilize liquidity

So here’s what’s coming:

• A high-frequency trading platform as a service, exposed by API

• User-friendly grid bots so anyone can automate strategies

• Vaults powered by Backpack’s infrastructure, generating yield through:

  • Market making (spread capture)

  • Liquidations and backstop systems

  • Cross-collateral yields via BTC, ETH, SOL, HYPE, USDC, USDT, BNB, JUP, and more

Banking, Compliance and the “Money App”

Armani repeated this several times:

Backpack isn’t a perp DEX. Backpack is a money app

Current state:

• USD wires with no size limits and zero fees

• Fully compliant account structure

• Unified collateral for spot, perps, lending, and margin

What’s next:

• Support for EUR, then JPY

• Global networks of local fiat rails

• Remittances, FX, and fast on/off-ramps

• Payroll, IBANs, savings accounts

• Cards so users can spend BTC/ETH/USDC anywhere

Proof of Reserves & The “Private Chain” Model

Backpack already operates like a private blockchain with a deterministic, verifiable ledger

Today:

• Proof of Reserves matching on-chain wallets

• Privacy-preserving cryptography (balances are verified, not revealed)

Coming next:

• External validators for Backpack Exchange

• Continuous real-time PoR

• Strong trust minimization

The goal is transparency rivaling a blockchain, while staying compliant and regulated

Community, Tokens, and the bigger mission

Armani emphasized that Backpack’s success depends on two things:

1. Relentless product execution

2. A global, unstoppable community

The Mad Lads community already plays a huge role with memes, content, events, IRL meetups, merch, evangelism and more. Tokens, when launched, will expand that energy to millions of new people

On buybacks:

• Early-stage projects typically reinvest instead of buying back

• Decisions must follow a capital allocation framework, not hype

In short: buybacks aren’t off the table, but they’re not automatic

Five-Year Vision: The Money App

Armani ended the AMA with his long-term vision:

In five years, Backpack shouldn’t feel like a crypto app
It should feel like the default money app

The roadmap includes:

• Banking

• Savings

• Investing

• Perps

• Stocks

• Mortgages

• Remittances

• Cards

• On-chain activity

• All inside one Backpack

And for early supporters?

This is a multi-decade project. We chose the hardest path: regulated, compliant, transparent, and built so no one can run away with the money

Monad Mainnet

Monday, 24th November 2025 marks the official launch of the Monad Mainnet (yes, it’s finally here!)

Monad is massive, but it can feel overwhelming at first. That’s why Backpack is stepping in to make your first steps smooth and effortless. Using Backpack is simply the best way to explore the Monad ecosystem from Day 1

With Backpack, you can:

• Swap, bridge, and stake directly

• Discover trending memecoins and top dApps

• Trade $MON with both spot and perps on launch day

And that’s not all. Early Backpack users will be eligible for exclusive rewards, including:

• Points boosts on naddotfun

• Free perks from LootGo

• 20x ChogNFT

• 30x Lilstarrrs

• $10000 in $MON

• … and even more

Monad Mainnet is here. Backpack is ready. Let’s explore!

https://x.com/backpack/status/1992872823405375718

NFT Mint Calendar

Get your $MON ready because a flood of new NFT projects is about to hit Monad, and some of them are seriously hyped

• @overnads - Nov 25th

• @BlockNads - Dec 1st

• @skrumpeys - Nov 24th

• @mongang_xyz - Nov 26th

• @llamao_ - Nov 25th

• @molandaks_xyz - Nov 24th

• @LaMouchNFT - Nov 24th

• @Monshape - Dec 5th

• @chads_gg - Nov 28th

• @poply_xyz - Nov 25th

• @monadverse - Nov 25th

• @Chewy_xyz - Nov 24th

• @thedaks_png - Nov 26th

• @RealNadsClub - Nov 28th

• @the10kSquad - Dec 4th

• @OctoNads - Nov 25th

• @meowwnads - Nov 26th

• @sealuminati -Dec 1st

• @moyaking_xyz - Nov 24th

• @WoollyEggs - Nov 24th

• @monochams - Dec 1st

• @MonafukuCafe - Nov 24th

• @MonadNomadsNFT - Nov 26th

As always, we encourage you to do your own research and make sure you don’t miss anything important

Mad Lads around the world

You probably know since many months that Mad Lads community never rests and never hide. Every month, every week, we see Mad Lads at events, repping their merch or being on stage… and of course this month too (even with some “private jokes” such as KFC meet-up)!

qimei somewhere around the globe

https://x.com/Qimeiluo/status/1985189827789365727

Lads at KFC

https://x.com/Madbenny/status/1985706617690866069

Lads at the pub

https://x.com/konn3cted/status/1984319429203648603

Backpack birthday in Tokyo

https://x.com/Miiiho420/status/1984609955794862264

Lads winning Hackathon

https://x.com/alexana_deva/status/1987817357645889911

Mad Lads 2nd collection concept

Armani dropped an unexpected and absolutely brilliant surprise this month. He shared a sneak peek of the original concept for the Mad Lads second collection, a project that was started long ago but never completed

https://x.com/armaniferrante/status/1985203191382966762

The community instantly went wild when it appeared on the timeline. The hype grew so quickly that Grok’s algorithm detected it and pushed it into X’s trending topics

Breakpoint ‘25

From the 11th to the 13th of December 2025, Solana Breakpoint will take place in Abu Dhabi. This is Solana’s largest annual conference and the gathering point for builders, founders, investors, creators, and ecosystem leaders from all around the world

If you are attending, you will be able to meet a big part of the Backpack team at their booth. For your information, Armani will also be speaking on the second day, so make sure not to miss his session

You may also want to check this out https://luma.com/ihpl3ohr

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• BTC Echo x Armani Ferrante

https://www.btc-echo.de/news/experte-krypto-markt-verhundertfachen-backpack-ceo-interview-2-218433/

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

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But since a single day doesn’t define a whole month, October still delivered plenty of exciting moments: the launch of the Monad airdrop checker, multiple new listings on Backpack Exchange and support for HyperVM, Plasma and Aptos directly in your Backpack wallet. There was also a wild night when one Lad got airdropped 7 Lads all thanks to a tweet!

The Mad Lads community continued to make its mark both online and offline. Between creative content on X and strong representation at global events, the Lads proved once again that their presence across the ecosystem is unmatched and that they are truely MAD

Mad Lads creativity

This month, we saw plenty of creative Lads lighting up the timeline. Some explored the power of AI, others got hands-on with crafts and a few simply shared the beauty of the world around them

https://x.com/ngbackpack/status/1974396970963021951

https://x.com/odunugal/status/1976031304882978819

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1974083248641995138

https://x.com/armaniferrante/status/1974412506304274621

https://x.com/swasti_art/status/1979169951723274625

Backpack News

New Listing

Backpack Exchange was packed this month with new listings, rank drops, and exciting quests. Brick by brick, Backpack is establishing itself as the go-to centralized exchange for traders around the world

• OG (0G Labs)

• XPL (Plasma)

• HYPE (Hyperliquid)

• APEX (ApeX)

• 2Z (DoubleZero)

• MNT (Mantle)

• BNB (BNB Chain)

• W (Wormhole)

• PIPE (Pipe Network)

• KMNO (Kamino Finance)

• JTO (Jito)

• LDO (Lido Finance)

• ZEC (Zcash)

Wallet Network

Backpack Wallet now seamlessly supports three new networks, giving you even more ways to experience Web3 all from one app. No need to juggle multiple wallets or deal with bridges and extra steps. Keep it simple. Keep it Backpack

• Aptos

• Plasma

• HyperVM

• BNB Chain

Backpack x Titan

Backpack has teamed up with Titan to bring you the most powerful and efficient in-wallet swap feature ever built on Solana

You probably already know there are several ways to swap tokens on Solana, through various methods such as:

• In-wallet swaps

• Jupiter

• Orca

• DFlow

• SpiderSwap
  ...and more

Usually, in-wallet swaps get a bad reputation. Wallets (we won’t say names) add extra fees on top of each swap, which is why most traders prefer aggregators like Jupiter, known for finding the best price routes across the ecosystem with low fees

So, how do aggregators work? They search multiple liquidity sources across Solana to find the best route for your trade, but they often charge a small fee for that service

That’s where Titan changes the game!

Titan developed its own advanced algorithm called Argos, which finds better swap routes and prices 80% of the time compared to other aggregators. And now, Backpack’s in-wallet swap is powered by Titan

What does that mean for you?

• No hidden fees

• Best routes and quotes automatically applied

• No need to leave the wallet

In short: you’re no longer losing money by swapping directly inside Backpack. You’re getting Titan-level performance which are fast, transparent, and optimized for the best deal every time

Early users were able to earn the Backpack Badge by performing swaps. While that specific badge is no longer available, you can still use Titan to make swaps, collect new badges, and climb their leaderboard

Backpack a.k.a the Volume Beast

Backpack Exchange is currently ranked #18 on CoinGecko’s CEX leaderboard by 7-day trading volume. This is already impressive, but what’s even crazier is the growth behind those numbers

On October 3, Backpack closed Week 3 of Season 3 with a $2.5B 24h trading volume. Just three days later, it hit $3B, and by the end of Week 4, it reached an incredible $4.5B in daily volume

Still doubting Backpack? Maybe it’s time to open the app…

Real Stock in your Backpack

Backpack has partnered with Superstate, a regulated asset manager building real-world financial products directly onchain. Their mission? To bring traditional finance into the blockchain safely and compliantly

So what does this actually mean? Investors will soon be able to trade real, SEC-registered shares of public companies (not synthetic versions or token wrappers) directly onchain through Backpack

In short: you’ll be able to access and trade actual stocks listed on exchanges like Nasdaq and NYSE, but with 24/7 availability, instant settlement, and onchain transparency all from your Backpack wallet

This collaboration represents a major step forward in merging TradFi and Web3, making Backpack the first platforms to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional equity markets

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1978471294502162607

Built different

Some Backpack traders are just built different…
One of them even hit the maximum level for BTC-PERP volume, which was capped at an insane $200M

https://x.com/lerolwen/status/1973391012962983963

Mad Lads around the world

You probably know since many months that Mad Lads community never rests and never hide. Every month, every week, we see Mad Lads at events, repping their merch or being on stage… and of course this month too!

aPriori x Backpack - Seoul

https://x.com/aPriori/status/1973022443506696556

qimei somewhere around the globe

https://x.com/Qimeiluo/status/1972528499874533414

Lads in Madrid

https://x.com/CarreNFT/status/1974457507004444924

Backpack x DoubleZero

https://x.com/muhnkee/status/1972189250683806001

Long or Short?

https://x.com/Miiiho420/status/1980539618471924097

From a Trump announcement to a liquidation cascade

On October 10, the crypto market imploded. Within hours, nearly $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out. The largest liquidation cascade in history

What began as a simple tariff headline became a chain reaction that exposed the fragility of modern crypto markets: brittle oracles, vanished liquidity and the brutal efficiency of auto-deleverage (ADL)

At 20:00 UTC, President Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese tech imports, sending Bitcoin from $122000 to $118000… normal volatility for a political shock

But by 21:00, Binance’s servers were overwhelmed and $6B had been liquidated

Wrapped assets like wBETH, BNSOL, and USDe (normally stable derivatives) collapsed only on Binance…
wBETH plunged nearly 90%, while USDe dropped to $0.65. Other exchanges saw little movement

How could those wrapped assets crash?

Wrapped assets represent claim checks on staked tokens like ETH. Their value shouldn’t swing violently unless the underlying asset does
Yet Binance’s margin system priced these assets directly from its spot order books, not their conversion ratios

When market makers withdrew and liquidity dried up, those spot prices crashed...
The system then marked down everyone’s collateral, triggering more liquidations, which deepened the collapse…

Coincidence or Coordination?

Some analysts think this wasn’t random. On October 6, Binance announced an update to its oracle pricing system for USDe, wBETH, and BNSOL, scheduled for October 14.
Four days later, those exact assets imploded…

Whether deliberate or opportunistic, the sequence showed a deeper truth: transparency can create vulnerability. Public upgrade timelines gave attackers (or lucky traders) a roadmap

The Oracle That Failed

The collapse followed a pattern seen since 2020 in protocols like bZx and Mango Markets: manipulable oracles, leveraged positions, and deterministic liquidation logic

Binance’s internal oracle relied mostly on its own prices. When those diverged, it read the manipulated numbers as truth and marked down collateral across billions in open positions

Liquidity Vanishes, Algorithms Take Over

Market makers are meant to stabilize volatility, but that night, they pulled out
Unable to hedge or even access Binance’s overloaded APIs, they stopped quoting altogether. As a result, liquidity collapsed by nearly 98%

With no bids left in the order books, liquidation bots kept selling, turning what should have been a temporary dip into a full-blown free fall. The shockwaves quickly spread to other exchanges, amplifying the chaos across the entire market…

Backpack faced a few waves of FUD after this event, but once again, Armani stepped up and clearly informed the community about what happened and the consequences

The situation proved that Backpack can handle challenges with transparency and resilience. Each case was carefully reviewed, and everyone affected was compensated

Auto-Deleveraging (ADL)

When order books and insurance funds failed, exchanges triggered Auto-Deleveraging (ADL)
ADL forcibly closes profitable positions on the opposite side of losing trades to absorb bad debt

Each exchange does it differently:

• Platforms like Binance and Bybit rank traders by profit and leverage. The bigger your gain, the more likely you’ll be cut

• Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange, takes a more transparent approach by publishing its ADL formula on-chain

• Backpack goes a step further with a fair two-pass ADL algorithm:

  • In the first pass, traders are sorted by margin fraction and everyone is reduced to delta 0

  • In the second pass, traders are again sorted by margin fraction and batches of positions are reduced pro-rata per batch

During the crash, 35000 ADL events hit 20000 users on Hyperliquid alone

Conclusion

In the end, every safeguard worked as designed, just not as intended. The market didn’t fail because of manipulation or greed. It failed because its systems couldn’t tell the difference between fake prices and real ones

Crypto’s ambition is to build fair, autonomous markets. October 2025 proved they’re still dangerously fragile and that in this ecosystem, every mechanism works perfectly until it doesn’t…

This article was highly inspirated by the articles by YQ, a must read
https://x.com/yq_acc/status/1978800996689293674

Mad Lads x Nomadz

Nomadz is a travel platform built for everyone but especially for Web3 travelers looking for better deals and a seamless experience. The platform aggregates stays from over 320 providers, and thanks to its smooth Backpack Exchange integration, users can pay directly with crypto and enjoy 0% off-ramp fees

What makes it even better? Most of the Nomadz team are proud Mad Lads holders, which led to an exclusive collaboration for the community. By verifying your Mad Lads NFT on Nomadz, you’ll instantly earn +200 XP and get a permanent +20% XP boost on all your actions across the platform

https://x.com/nomadz_co/status/1973045637139550213

Bands.fun or how to airdrop 7 Lads

In October, a new project launched on Solana: Bands.fun
In this article, we’re not here to judge whether it’s good or bad, instead, we’ll break down the core idea behind the project and the event that took place on October 14th

What is Bands.fun?

At its core, Bands aims to introduce what the team calls “The NFT Flywheel”

In theory, the concept is quite simple to understand. Bands launches a token called a “strategy” (for example, MLSTRAT), which comes with buy and sell fees. The fees collected from trading this token are then used by Bands to purchase an NFT, which is relisted at 1.2x the original buying price. An other part are used as “Creator fees” for the team behind the NFT project used (for example Mad Lads, Bodogo, Claynosaurz…)

When that NFT is sold, the profit generated is used to buy back the strategy token, creating a loop. This is what the team calls “The NFT Flywheel”

What happened then?

Over the course of the month, Bands collected 241 SOL in fees from the Mad Lads strategy. They posted a tweet to ask the community what should be done with the funds:

• Hold them for Mad Lads

• Buy back and burn the MLSTRAT token

Armani jumped into the comments with a legendary reply: “Buy Lads and send them to Coach.”
Within seconds, the community went wild and the tweet got raided by many Lads. Just five minutes later, 7 Mad Lads were sent to Coach by Bands team

For those who don’t know Coach, he’s been around since the very beginning, collecting and trading countless Lads, Lassies, and Skulls. He’s not your average holder. He’s Coach.

Let’s chat with Coach

After this incredible story, I reached out to Coach to ask him a few questions and hear more about his thoughts on that crazy evening.

What are the reasons that make you trade and collect Mad Lads so much?

It’s the only NFT collection that I love everything about. The art, the vibe, the team, the business that’s being built with Backpack. Madlads ticks all the boxes for me, and since day one I’ve known that I’m going to keep my Lads for decades, so it was important for me to have the Lads that I love and to be like a real collector

What went through your mind when you saw Armani’s reply on the Bands tweet and then witnessed the Lads raiding the post, telling them to airdrop you Mad Lads?

A joke. I really thought it was a joke, and just seeing my name mentioned was already an incredible feeling. It’s recognition from Armani, which means a lot, and it’s recognition from the community that kept mentioning my name. It’s the kind of moment that gives meaning to our presence here

How did you feel when you saw those 7 Lads hit your wallet?

It feels like winning the lottery! We often see others win incredible things or have rare opportunities, and now it’s as if a miracle has happened to me when I wasn’t expecting it and wasn’t chasing it. I must admit that during the night I checked several times to make sure the Lads were still in my wallet! I know the value of a Lad and the value of being a lad. It makes me proud and extremely grateful

If you could give three pieces of advice to Lads, what would they be?

1. Do good without expecting anything in return. Just do good whenever you can

2. Never ask a founder to change their agenda for your agenda or your bag. If a founder ever does that, run away. If a founder doesn’t do it and you have a hard time with it, you’re not in the right project

3. Use Backpack

Monad Airdrop Claim Portal

You’ve probably heard of Monad, especially since the Mad Lads have been one of the most active and engaged communities supporting the project since its early days. On October 14th, the big moment finally arrived: the Monad Airdrop Portal officially opened its doors!

Connect your social accounts, wallets, and more to see if you’re eligible and find out what rank you’ve earned

https://x.com/monad/status/1978083577666416849

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• TOKEN 2049 - Shaping the Next Phase of Digital Asset Markets

• Bitcoin.com x Armani

https://x.com/BTCTN/status/1973315268790329642

• decrypt - “Backpack Crypto Exchange to Debut in ‘Many’ US States This Year”

https://decrypt.co/338813/backpack-exchange-debut-many-u-s-states-ceo

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

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It was also a packed month for IRL events. Mad Lads and Backpack enthusiasts showed up big, especially in Korea with over three gatherings, while Europe saw its share too like the Ship or Sink event in Poland

In short: the Mad Lads community continues to prove its strength, repping hard at events worldwide and dominating X with top-tier content

MAD LADS around the globe

Mad Lads isn’t just a NFT project, it’s a movement. Holders proudly show up, rep the culture and carry the madness everywhere they go

CloneGirl at DoubleZero x Backpack event

https://x.com/CloneGirls/status/1959587563209191875

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1967196642458935562

Slice in Asia

https://x.com/crypto_slice/status/1958832406670024996

Lads on top of Mt Fuji

https://x.com/MonkDoesnt/status/1957385774292464033

Mad Lads Seoul meetup

https://x.com/MadLads/status/1965698297894752763

Ship or Sink by Superteam Poland

https://x.com/SuperteamPOL/status/1965366553622577191

Mad Lads x Solana Oriental

Mad Lads is one of the Platinium Sponsor of Solana Oriental 2025

Solana Oriental 2025, co-hosted by Fragmetric and the Solana Foundation, is a half-day event at the Mondrian Hotel in Seoul. It brings together top teams, projects, and builders shaping the next phase of the Solana ecosystem

Join the event: https://luma.com/76266qm6

Backpack News

EU Launch

Backpack just pulled the trigger and is now officially launched in Europe! This milestone also marked the official kickoff of Season 3!

The numbers speak for themselves, with Season 3 starting at full speed and setting new all-time highs:

• $1.5B 24h perps volume

• $870M open margin

• $579M lent assets

• $570M open interest

• $400M assets under custody

Are you MAD enough?

Friendly reminder: if you’re new, a full setup tutorial is available here: madlads-hub.xyz/backpack

New listings

Backpack has been on fire this month with a wave of new listings and of course, each one came packed with achievements for traders to chase:

• SEI (Sei)

• APT (Aptos)

• WLFI (World Liberty Finance)

• PYTH (Pyth Network)

• WLD (Worldcoin)

• SHIB (Shiba Inu)

• SWTCH (Switchboard)

• LINEA (Linea)

• XRP (Ripple)

• ASTER (Aster)

• AVNT (Avantis)

• FLOCK (Flock)

• XPL (Plasma)

Who said trading can’t feel like a game?

It wouldn’t be Backpack if these listings didn’t come with rewards and incentives, right?

Want even more rewards? Check out Cash Climb, where your trading volume can earn you up to $32000 in cash

Check your Seeker

You ordered. You waited. And now, it’s finally time!

Download Backpack on your Seeker phone and discover some surprises

Proof of reserve is public

Backpack just teamed up with OtterSec to roll out PoRv2, a zero-knowledge system for fast and transparent solvency checks. Sounds like gibberish? Here’s the simple version: Backpack literally can’t fake their proof of reserves and to top it off, they publish it every day :

https://backpack.exchange/reserves

If you’re into the technical side of things, OtterSec’s deep dive is a real gem: https://x.com/osec_io/status/1961534339780595804

BPUSD ?!?

What looked like speculation, trolling, or secret alpha on X quickly got clarified by Armani himself

This is going to be our bank deposit token representing cash deposits in our bank accounts. Required by law in some new regions we’re opening. The USD basket token already acts as our own exchange specific stablecoin. Though we are obviously not trying to compete with anyone at an ecosystem level.

https://x.com/Crypt0xb0/status/1966912622600831337

In summary, the BPUSD represent cash deposits in Backpack’s bank accounts. This move is legally required in some of the new regions Backpack is expanding into. The USD basket token already functions as Backpack’s own exchange-specific stablecoin

Mad Nikki

Nikki, one of our well-known Lassies, recently biked over 250km across 3 countries and today we’re talking about her trip, her motivations and the memories she brought back

For those who don't know her yet, Nikki's Web3 journey began in 2021, when Elon Musk was promoting Dogecoin and Axie Infinity exploded in the Philippines. She then fell deeper into the rabbit hole when she got into the NFT ecosystem and became part of different communities. Eventually, she worked for a VC and venture builder company as an associate. Right now, she's exploring and figuring out what to do next while staying at Network School in Malaysia

Her Mad Lads story? She was there from mint day, hitting multiple spots. Some Lads got flipped, some sold, some held and of course, some bought back again. A true Mad Lassie

So why the biking trip? Originally, it was supposed to be with friends, but plans changed last minute. Instead of giving up, Nikki thought, “FOCK IT, let’s rent a bike and just do it”. That impulse carried her from Malaysia to Indonesia, then to Singapore and back to Malaysia

She got lost more than once thanks to outdated maps and one night she even had to hold her phone as a flashlight after dark to keep going. For Nikki, that’s exactly the point: roll with it, fock it and keep moving forward

Looking back, she sees the whole experience as perfectly aligned with Mad Lads philosophy, the “FOCK IT” way. If you believe in something, if you can picture yourself doing it, then go for it. Nothing’s impossible

Mad Cookies

NorthKing decided traditional cookies were boring… so he came up with MAD COOKIES

https://x.com/NorthKing91/status/1953826297509032353

Are you also a baker? Share your MAD recipes on X and spread the madness!

FLOJO x Mad Lads

FLOJO is a Web3 brand creating healthy drinks designed to reduce stress and boost mental clarity. Each can is packed with Yerba Mate, Reishi, Lion’s Mane, Echinacea and fruit juice

https://x.com/DrinkFlojo/status/1970476760786706930

Mad Lads community feedback

Mad Monkey is collecting community feedback on several key topics such as community management and role of Mad Lads in Backpack ecosystem

This is your chance to make your voice heard and help shape the future of the project Don’t miss it, fill out the form here: dyno.gg/form/bf7c1090

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• Armani x The New Money Podcast

• Armani x Jacquelyn Melinek

https://x.com/jacqmelinek/status/1967949593108419061

• CoinDesk “Backpack EU Launches with Daily Proof of Reserve”

  1. https://finance.yahoo.com/video/backpack-eu-launches-daily-proof-174118297.html

  2. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/09/08/backpack-opens-regulated-perpetuals-exchange-in-europe-after-ftx-eu-acquisition

• Joe Takayama - Backpack Exchange Master Tutorial

https://x.com/TakayamaJoe/status/1965003429744447655

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

Share

You’ll learn more about their projects, what being a Lad means to them, and how it’s helped them on their path to success

Once again, huge shoutout to everyone who took the time to answer these questions and MAD respect to every founder and team member out there proudly rocking a Mad Lad

Matty.SOL - WIDITDOTFUN

Matty.SOL has been part of the Solana ecosystem for over 5 years, starting out as a marketing manager before becoming a founder. For the past 2 years, he’s been building WIDITDOTFUN and now the project is finally ready to launch in September

WIDI dApp is the first mobile-native, AI-powered copy trading app on Solana. It’s set to go live in early September on the dApp Store, App Store, and Google Play. Their next big milestone? Onboarding top traders and trenchers to the platform and reaching their first major wave of adoption this September

In case you missed it, Matty won the auction on time.fun, which gave him the chance to pitch WIDITDOTFUN live to Toly and get direct feedback. A huge moment for him and for the project

For the Mad Lads community, it’s also a strong signal: build your dreams, believe in what you’re doing, and never give up

https://x.com/aeyakovenko/status/1919757070913474643

How did Matty got into Mad Lads?

For him, the answer is simple: “Mad Lads is a culture. If you’re on Solana, you don’t need a reason to hold one.” Not only is Matty a true Mad Lads, but he also loves being part of the community and deeply appreciates how the Lads show up to support builders from their own community

We’ll close with a quote directly from Matty :

Whatever you do, do it on Solana. Be a part of the future of finance.

Want to learn more about their project? https://x.com/WIDITDOTFUN

mattytay - Colosseum

Matty is the co-founder of Colosseum and if that’s not impressive enough, he also spent 4 years as Head of Growth at the Solana Foundation. To make it even better, he’s a proud Mad Lads enjoyoooorrr as he described himself

Colosseum is an organization built on three core pillars:

• Solana’s official hackathons

• A leading accelerator program

• A dedicated venture fund

Colosseum has raised $60M and backed over 30 teams since 2024 in the Solana ecosystem. As you can guess, they’re not here to sit on their hands

After noticing that many top hackathon teams were using the Colosseum platform to find teammates, they started building a new Cofounder Matching Portal which is a tool where anyone can answer an in-depth set of questions and get paired with potential co-founders (chat, is this Tinder for builders?)

And that’s not all, they’re also launching a new initiative called Eternal: a perpetual hackathon that stays open year-round when global hackathons aren’t running. Since the beginning of the year, they’ve already invested in two projects that came through Eternal’s pipeline

How did Matty got into Mad Lads?

When Mad Lads launched, Matty swept several Lads to show support for Armani, Tristan and the Backpack team. He instantly resonated with the artwork and has been proudly rocking his Skulls PFP ever since and he’s not planning on changing it anytime soon

Being part of the Mad Lads community has its perks: Matty noticed many Lads PFPs submitting projects during hackathons and even more importantly, Armani and Tristan have been active mentors to founders backed through Colosseum’s accelerator

Want to learn more about their project ? https://x.com/colosseum

Phillip - Sei Foundation (Growth Lead)

Phillip leads growth at the Sei Foundation, where he focuses on supporting creators, driving adoption and helping the right people succeed across the ecosystem. He originally came from the world of private equity consulting but everything changed after he booked a last-minute ticket to first ever Solana Breakpoint event. That week of meeting builders and talking crypto hooked him on the ecosystem ever since and even landed him his first job on Solana. He then worked at Trader Joe (leading DEX on Avax) for a while

Sei is a high-performance L1 that combines the best of Ethereum and Solana, offering tools, speed, scalability and accessibility. Phillip now helps creators, founders and communities make the most of this infrastructure

The Sei Foundation is entering a major growth phase: native USDC is live, RWA infrastructure is rolling out with partners like Ondo and they recently became the most-used EVM chain by weekly active wallets. Up next? Sei Giga, their next upgrade unlocking over 5 gigagas/sec of throughput and enabling apps that feel like Web2… but fully on-chain

How did Phillip got into Mad Lads?

He’s been around since the early days, back when getting on the WL meant guessing animal sounds (yes, that era… blue ball PTSD included). From the start, it just felt different. The culture, the product, the quality of the members… he knew he wanted to be part of it

Since joining, Phillip has had meaningful conversations and collaborations through Mad Lads. He sees it as one of the rare places where people from different ecosystems are genuinely curious and eager to build together. The true definition of WAO

We’ll close with a quote directly from Phillip :

At Sei FDN, we're focused on identifying and accelerating the growth journey of newcomers to the ecosystem: founders, creators and teams with conviction. If that sounds like you, feel free to reach out to me. Always happy to connect!

Want to learn more about Sei ? https://x.com/SeiNetwork

WhiskyTitan - BAXUS

WhiskyTitan, known in real life as Tzvi Wiesel, is the co-founder and CEO of BAXUS and a true Real World Assets (RWA) maximalist. With BAXUS, he’s building the future of wine & spirits collecting, starting with their fully on-chain marketplace

WhiskyTitan first discovered the world of whiskey in NYC while working at a tasting event. Fast forward five years, while studying computer science, he came up with the wild idea of creating a digital marketplace for spirits, fully on-chain… and that’s how BAXUS was born!

At its core, BAXUS brings together crypto traders, degens, whiskey and wine enthusiasts and even non-crypto users by building the leading marketplace for wine and spirits

Since launch, over 150,000 users (most of them non-crypto native) have interacted with crypto for the first time and continue to use BAXUS to:

• Track their collection

• Track their wishlists

• Buy & sell bottles

But BAXUS isn’t stopping there. Remember how WhiskyTitan is an RWA maximalist? Well BAXUS also launched a hardware device for distilleries, designed to transmit environmental barrel data directly to warehouses, powered by Helium

What’s next? Direct access to DeFi, so users/brands can leverage their bottles and barrels stored in BAXUS’ vault and unlock capital through on-chain lending

<image 3>

And how did WhiskyTitan got into Mad Lads?

He always admired Armani, loved the culture and was a fan of the art. Once he found the perfect Mad Lads for himself, he joined the community and never left

He values being part of the Mad Lads community which has given consistent support to BAXUS both as users and as voices on social media. WhiskyTitan is thinking about ways to create special experiences on BAXUS for the supportive Mad Lads community

We'll close with a quote directly from WhiskyTitan:

Lads are terminally online and always looking out for what they can do to make the ecosystem better. I love my lad and definitely want to create more opportunities for cool special events or releases to thank the lads for their support.

Fock it, we drink.

Want to learn more about their project ? https://x.com/BAXUSco

Amir - SolanaHub (Hubra)

Amir is a seasoned Solana developer and validator since 2020 and the mind behind SolanaHub. A true decentralization maxi and DeFi enthusiast, he’s been deeply involved in the ecosystem since he started

SolanaHub (soon to be rebranded as Hubra) reflects every pain point crypto has introduced: from confusing trends to unclear risks and limited accessibility. Amir believes crypto is incredibly powerful but still far too hard to follow and even harder to use safely
His mission with SolanaHub is simple: change that

He’s building a cross-platform experience that makes crypto simple, safe and rewarding. To achieve this, SolanaHub delivers features like:

• Hot new tokens? They surface the trends

• Crazy APY on a protocol? It’s on your radar

• DeFi position in bad health? They alert you before it’s too late

Everything at SolanaHub is designed to help users stay informed, avoid scams and maximize upside without all the noise

Next up? They’re about to boost rewards for $hubSOL stakers (soon to be rebranded as well)

and how did Amir got into Mad Lads?

As soon as he saw the level of quality Mad Lads delivered to their community, he knew he had to be part of it. For him, it’s rare to find a group that preserves culture, builds with intention and holds the line on standards… all while rocking outstanding art

He’s confident that being part of the Mad Lads community will help his project grow because strong communities build strong ecosystems

We’ll close with a quote directly from Amir:

In my eyes, Mad Lads and other high-bar NFT communities represent the blueprint: exclusive but earned, creative but focused and driven by real value. I'm proud to be part of that energy.

Want to learn more about their project ? https://x.com/solanahubapp

sang.sol - Fragmetric

Sang is the co-founder of Fragmetric and a long-time DeFi builder, passionate about creating innovative financial infrastructure on Solana. Active in the ecosystem since 2021, he’s always been into financial products and Fragmetric is exactly that

Fragmetric is the first Liquid Restaking Protocol on Solana, designed to help users maximize yield through liquid restaking tokens like $fragSOL, $fragJTO and $fragBTC

That’s not all, Fragmetric also launched an NFT collection called Topu, which plays a key role in their governance and ecosystem development

The team is now working on a new product related to stablecoins, which should be announced very soon

How did Sang got into Mad Lads?

Joining Mad Lads felt like a logical step for Sang when he saw how thriving this community is. As someone deeply involved in Solana since 2021, becoming a Lad meant surrounding himself with other builders and value-driven individuals

Being part of the Mad Lads community has been a big boost for Sang and his team. Not only did they gain access to a hyper-engaged supporters (the MAD LADS), they also received valuable guidance and backing from Armani and Tristan, which led to a close collaboration with Backpack, opening doors to key insights and partnerships that accelerated Fragmetric’s growth

We’ll close with a quote directly from Sang :

WAO x STEM

Want to learn more about their project ? https://x.com/fragmetric

Ivan - Nomadz

Ivan is a true serial entrepreneur. He’s been building businesses almost since he started walking. From coffee shops to healthy food vending machines, tech startups and even an investment firm, Ivan has done it all. Today, he’s the co-founder of 3x Capital and co-founder of Nomadz

His web3 journey began as an investor, then expanded into a portfolio manager role and now he’s fully focused on Nomadz, a booking aggregator for Web3 travelers

When he’s not building, Ivan is organizing acceleration programs like Solana Temple, a wellness-focused bootcamp for founders, creators and investors which is now officially backed by the Solana Foundation. He also organized Solana Sailing, a week-long sailing experience bringing together founders and investors; Season 2 sets sail this September in the beautiful waters of Greece

Nomadz is a travel platform built for everyone, but especially Web3 travelers looking for better deals. It aggregates stays from over 320 providers and thanks to a smooth Backpack Exchange integration, users can pay with 0% off-ramp fees

Even better, Nomadz features a gamified system where users earn XP, unlock achievements and get rewards. Their Season 1 kicking off this summer

How did Ivan got into Mad Lads ?

Well, he fell in love with the Backpack team’s culture and vision for Solana. Many of his friends were already Lads, and eventually… he couldn’t resist the urge to scream WAO and Fock It right alongside them

Securing his Mad Lad wasn’t just a vibe decision, it was also a smart investment, and he’s convinced of the long-term value

Since joining, Ivan has:

• Connected with top-tier devs

• Found angel investors

• Formed new partnerships

• And seen his social engagement triple

We’ll close with a quote directly from Ivan:

MadLads on top!

Want to learn more about their project ? https://x.com/nomadz_co

Taras - Venture Launch

Taras Yavorskyy is a partner at 3x Capital, an early-stage investment firm, and also a partner at Venture Launch, an acceleration and fundraising platform for Web3 startups
In short? Taras is the go-to guy for entrepreneurs launching products in the Solana ecosystem

So what does it actually mean to be a partner at Venture Launch?
Well, Venture Launch is designed to help founders raise capital and grow fast while also giving investors and VCs early access to top-tier Web3 deals in the Solana ecosystem

Their goal are simple:

• Help 100+ Solana-based projects raise their pre-seed and seed rounds

• Support them in building great products

• Scale real user adoption

Taras got into Mad Lads because, for him, it represents a real community. One built on shared values, support, and a collective motivation to build great things

Being part of Mad Lads has helped him:

• Build his branding

• Access talent and form partnerships

• Stay close to the most active builders in the space

We’ll close with a quote directly from Taras :

Solana isn’t just hype. It’s one of the few ecosystems with real users, real builders, and real value.

https://x.com/tarasss13/status/1912159014722625805

Want to learn more about their project ? https://x.com/venture_launch

0xBeni - SOLYD

0xBeni is the chief storyteller behind the SOLYD brand and one of the core team members of Solana Hungary. He joined the Solana ecosystem 3 years ago and has always had a deep interest in DeFi and DePIN

SOLYD is what drives Beni, a DePIN project creating premium phone cases for the Solana Seeker phone. SOLYD is much more than just a phone cases brand it's a platform for creators, communities and brands who want to establish their physical presence on the most sold web3 device (over 150K units sold)

So, what makes a SOLYD case different from your average phone case?
Each one comes with a Soulbound Token that grants holders access to rewards and perks across the ecosystem.

Their first major achievement? They literally sent the first Solana phone into space and did a transaction from up there! They are now getting ready to ship all pre-ordered phone cases by the end of summer aswell as prepping for a special “SOLYD September” drop full of surprises

So how did Beni end up a Mad Lad?

Well, many of his close friends were already Lads, and he had noticed the strong presence of Mad Lads across the ecosystem for over two years. During Solana APEX, he even helped organize a Backpack meetup, where he met a bunch of Lads IRL and that’s what gave him the confidence to pull the trigger

Since joining, Beni has really enjoyed Mad News and the Mad Lads Hub. He’s received a ton of valuable feedback for SOLYD from other Lads and now he’s exploring ways to further amplify our collective impact… maybe even with a Mad Lads phone case?

We’ll close with a quote directly from Beni:

When, if not now. Triple down on your goals and don't let anything get in your way.

Want to learn more about their project ? https://x.com/SOLYD_STORE

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• Armani x SOL Brothers

https://x.com/armaniferrante/status/1960533096882983354

• Mad Lads Türkiye

https://x.com/madladsTR/status/1947322986505089133

• Joe Takayama x Backpack

https://x.com/Backpack_CN/status/1952638124913303611

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

Share

Mad Lads holders who pre-ordered their bomber jackets were excited to receive the famous “your order is on the way” email and not so long after some event got a nice box delivered at their home!

Meanwhile, something you don’t see every day happened on the market… a BTC wallet dormant since 2011 suddenly moved! The wallet, holding over $8B worth of BTC, caused quite a stir among traders and oponned the door to all kinds of speculation on X

As always, July turned out to be another amazing month for Mad Lads holders as they keep growing stronger as a community, meeting up at IRL events, and creating top-level content all over X (one Lad even got his post commented on by Toly himself, what a flex)

Backpack S2

A challenging launch

July 3rd marked the start of Backpack Exchange Season 2. The day kicked off with an announced and scheduled maintenance for on/off ramping.
What should have been something quick and simple turned into a bigger challenge: a programming error made its way into the production system, affecting historical trader data and the exchange’s ability to function as intended

Once the issue was discovered, the system was immediately halted while the team worked on a fix. After a few hours, everything was back up and running properly. It’s important to note that funds remained safe and secure throughout the process but the user experience that day was understandably less than ideal…

Over 300 cases where funds or trades were impacted were identified by the team. The affected accounts were reimbursed and to further compensate, everyone received double points for the day

The team handled the situation very professionally by addressing complaints on Discord and X, refunding traders, doubling points and following up with people in the days after to ensure everything was back to normal

https://x.com/armaniferrante/status/1940834839399383264

New regions are coming

Some people have already noticed that some new faces did set up their accounts on Backpack Exchange, completed the KYC process and started their ascension in the Season 2 leaderboard

https://x.com/docha3desu/status/1944483954226340161/video/1

Europe support hasn’t been officially announced by the Backpack team yet. However, it is worth regularly checking for new countries on the exchange. Remember, if your country isn’t on the list yet, hold tight and never forget these wise words from our founder, Armani Ferrante:

We can't just decide to do or announce things on our end. The best we can do unfortunately is take questions here. But please know that everyone involved fully understands the importance of this. No one wants to move fast on this more than me.

There is a step-by-step tutorial available on the Mad Lads Hub: https://www.madlads-hub.xyz/backpack

Why rank matters

Each Friday, 10 million points are shared among the weekly traders. Depending on various metrics, you’ll earn more or fewer of these points

But it wouldn’t be fun to just stack points each week…no! These points actually let you rank up from Bronze to Challenger, and it really matters

Recently, we saw two airdrops for Backpack traders that were directly tied to their trader rank and it’s only the beginning!

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1939588790135529791

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1933109962559111587

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1945337643568365592

DeFi Explorer

Backpack shipped an amazing feature on July 2nd: DeFi Explorer

Whether you’re an OG in the space or you joined not so long ago, you’ve probably deposited funds into some dApps or received airdrops you’ve completely forgotten about

Explore the new DeFi tab, which lets you see all your positions directly in your wallet (Some people even joked that Backpack turned into Santa Claus when they found thousands of forgotten dollars sitting on the Solana blockchain)

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1940395029903941927

Mad Lads Bombers Jacket

Back in April 2025, Mad Lads holders had the chance to pre-order the Mad Lads Bomber Jacket and this month, it finally arrived at some lucky Lads’ homes!

The packaging? Apple-tier
The bomber jacket? MAD

https://x.com/2red/status/1942415191955694029

https://x.com/_nasteenish_/status/1943730963688620211

Gorbagana or dev having fun

At the end of June, Solana’s ecosystem was shaken by the launch of Gorbagana, a cheeky take on “garbage chain” inspired by Oscar the Grouch. What began as a meme rapidly evolved into a fully functional devnet blockchain, live within 48 hours, highlighting both the speed and spirit of Solana’s developer community

While Gorbagana started as a satirical experiment sparked by a casual tweet from Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, it quickly became a serious tech demonstration. Developers reverse-engineered Solana's code, spun up a testnet with native $GOR gas token, and processed millions of transactions in less than a week

One standout moment in this whirlwind launch was the native integration by Backpack Wallet, enabling seamless access to the Gorbagana chain without needing custom RPC settings . This meant developers and users could immediately interact with the testnet through their Backpack Wallet

Why it matters?

• Decentralized Agility: Gorbagana proves that a community-driven team can iterate and ship testnet code faster than many institutional projects

• Flagship Wallet Flexibility: Backpack’s ability to integrate non-standard chains shows real adaptability compared to more rigid wallets

• Culture + Code: This is where meme culture meets blockchain innovation

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1936055164009693643

BTC wallet waking up

July kicked off with a bang on-chain. A Bitcoin wallet, dormant since 2011, suddenly woke up from its nap and moved over 80000 BTC (worth $8–9 billion) in 8 giant transactions to a single wallet

https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/1b186a9c-1972-46c8-9de7-d2e8e3db28d7

Seeing that much BTC move after more than 10 years gave traders the sweats but the market didn’t react much. In fact, we even saw BTC hit $120k during mid-July

However, analysts didn’t brush this off so easily. Was it a hack? A government deal? A simple security upgrade? Or some legal action?

What is known so far:

• Perfect pattern: suggests that these wallets weren’t randomly created and could even have been automatically generated by a program

• Hidden messages:

  • first message “LEGAL NOTICE: We have taken possession of this wallet and its contents”

  • second message “Not abandoned? Prove it by an on-chain transaction using private key by Sept 30”

  • third message “NOTICE TO OWNER: see salomonbros.com/owner-notice”

  • last message “4 8 15 16 23 42” (LOST numbers)

  However the salomonbros.com website only was registered few days before it all happens

• Old technology: created with P2PKH encryption which has known flaws

Both thesis are worth watching:

• Legal test or seizure: old coins aren’t as safe as you think

• Hack: brilliant reminder that even ancient wallets aren’t invincible

If this was a test, we’ve been warned.
If it was an attack, it was brilliant.
And if it was real, it changes everything.

We do encourage you to stay curious and keep yourself informed about these events, especially since it can give you a serious advantage versus most of CT “kol”

Lads take care of Lads

In the previous Mad News, we had the chance to get to know some of our OG holders a bit better. In this edition, we’ll learn more about Mad Canny, one of our OG Lassies who has been taking the moderator role very seriously for over a year now

Canny bought her first crypto back in 2021, and like many people, she started with ETH. But thanks to an article about metaverses, she found her way into Solana!

She’s known for diamond-handing almost everything she gets, and let’s just say she now has a very interesting NFT collection to show for it

When she heard that Armani and Tristan were building a wallet, she instantly jumped into the server (she even joked that she thought she’d been kicked out multiple times because the logo kept changing). She managed to score her beta code, which led her to the whitelist and the mint

As a moderator, Canny always reminds us that we are Mad Lads by Backpack, not the other way around. It’s on us, the holders, to push the mission forward and make sure Backpack wins

Every day, she stays motivated because she truly believes Mad Lads can grow into something much bigger but it takes more of us stepping up to make that happen. She really wants to inspire every holder to get involved, try new things, and spread the madness. Her mindset? Do something beyond the norm, beyond your norm!

She also understands the frustration some holders feel when they can’t use the exchange yet, especially since she’s in the same situation herself. But she knows it’s coming, and in the meantime, you can still create content and help the mission grow. And if you need help with anything, all you have to do is ask and someone will always help you. WAO

I’ll let Canny’s own words close this out, directly quoted from her answer:

I’ve been here for the highs, the lows, and everything in between. I’m still here. With you. We were forged in the fire. We are fockin’ MAD. Never forget that. Let’s build. Together.

Backpack Achievements

Backpack Exchange just launched a new gamified way to enjoy the exchange through achievements

Some achievements are tied to specific Seasons, some aren’t. Some are fun, some are less fun (like getting liquidated) but in the end, we all want to collect them all, just like in a AAA video game where we’d grind extra hours to hit that 100% completion and unlock every trophy

Or maybe… we only need one achievement. The ultimate one, the MAD one

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1942826231906590971

Mad Lads X VANS ?

Is it a custom pair made just for Armani? Or maybe a teaser for an upcoming collaboration between Mad Lads and VANS? The doubt remains...

https://x.com/armaniferrante/status/1946860069011804171

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• Traders Magazine x Armani Ferrante: Wall Street Meets Crypto: How U.S. Institutions Are Reframing the Digital Asset Landscape

https://www.tradersmagazine.com/xtra/wall-street-meets-crypto-how-u-s-institutions-are-reframing-the-digital-asset-landscape/

• The Pipeline x Armani Ferrante

https://x.com/pipeline_xyz/status/1945846102072402418

• FIREANT x Backpack

https://x.com/ROKMCFIREANT/status/1945811330008826276

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

Follow Backpack and Mad Lads on X.

Share

Despite all that, June turned out to be good month! Lads had the chance to meet each other in Lisbon, Portugal, for the NFC Summit or in Da Nang, Vietnam, for the Solana Summit APAC

Backpack was also filled with good news such as daily rewards and new listing on the exchange

Fit Lads

Summer being right around the corner, it’s now time to get in shape!

Despite that, motivation can sometimes be hard to find, and excuses come easy:
“I don’t have time”
“I’ll go tomorrow”
“I don’t have the money for a gym membership”

BUT on the Mad Lads Discord server, we now have a #mad-fitness channel where dozens of Lads are posting their workouts to boost each other’s motivation

What are you waiting for? Come join us and let’s get fit!

All you need is a Backpack

From Paris to Tokyo, New York to Ibiza or on top of some swiss mountains, Mad Lads are showing up with one thing in common: their Backpack

Backpack isn’t just the IRL drip, it’s the ultimate all-in-one companion for Web3 enthusiasts : a wallet, an exchange, a Backpack

The Physical Backpack

A symbol of movement, culture, and belonging. Mad Lads have been spotted worldwide repping the Backpack with pride. It's not just merch, it’s identity

The Digital Backpack

Inside that same bag? You’re carrying DeFi, NFTs, trading, airdrops, staking, and the best crypto-wallet available

• Buy, sell and trade on the Backpack Exchange

• Earn points and rewards through campaigns

• Connect seamlessly across Solana, Sui, Ethereum, Monad, Eclipse, Sonic and much more

• Setup custom RPC and never miss a presale or mint

• Keep your assets safe

Lads on the Move

We’ve seen it everywhere:

• Mad Lads exploring the world with their backpack

• IRL meetups powered by Backpack

• Campaign, bonus drop, Blinks and dApp all in one app

One backpack. One wallet. One exchange. One Mad Lads movement. WAO
If you’ve got your Backpack, you’ve already got everything

Skulls on TOP

Some people have the audacity to call Mad Lads a dead project, label us as airdrop farmers or even claim that Solana NFTs are dead…

Might be time for a reality check… we just saw two Skull sales in a matter of days…

https://x.com/SolanaCoach/status/1932693579434254601

https://x.com/KgnCnKhrmn/status/1933191683920826847

Remember Lads, you can’t kill what is already dead

Solana Spaces

At the end of May, Solana Accelerate took place in New York City. Not only was it an amazing event with tons of activities but it also marked the re-opening of the Solana Spaces store!

Solana Spaces is a pop-up store where you can find all kinds of Web3-inspired items such as t-shirts, socks, figurines, shoes, stickers, plushies, nails set… basically every kind of IRL item around Solana ecosystem and projects

Not only it’s a pop-up store, it’s also a project with a huge community and team behind it!

And why are we highlighting this?

Because one of the volunteer behind Solana Spaces is a Mad Lassie!
Huge shoutout to Vesper for keeping it MAD and making the real world a little more Web3

Labubu x Backpack

Labubu is a plush toy designed by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung and it’s been blowing up in popularity lately (despite being created back in 2015!)

Labubu's recent success has been amplified by social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where unboxing videos and fan content have gone viral.
And the best part? Claire made a custom Backpack outfit for her Labubu… HOW CUTE IS THAT!?!?!?

https://x.com/Aprilwwwang/status/1930605643154542757

Now please, make it an official collab!!!!

Bonus campaign on Backpack Exchange

Season 1 wrapped up at the end of May but don’t worry, the fun isn’t over yet!
Backpack is packed with rewards and activities to keep you busy until Season 2.

Every day, between $50K and $100K in USD token rewards are being dropped to active users on Backpack Exchange

This come along the addition of 6 new Sui spot markets:

• WAL

• SEND

• HAEDAL

• DEEP

• BLUE

• NS

and the addition of the following pairs for perps trading:

• OP

• TIA

• PENGU

• TAO

• PEPE

• BONK

• NEAR

Buy, sell, trade and use the app to secure your daily rewards!

Not enough for you? Borrow $50 using Backpack Wallet on Scallop and hold it until July 1st to enter a $10K SCA token rewards pool

Mad Lads interviews

This month, we interviewd 4 members of the Mad Lads community to get to know hem better. It’s been over two years since we began this wild ride together, and we are still all vibing!

IQX.sol

IQX.sol is a Solana native since 2021, who leads the Mad Lads China community and is known for holding some insane grails!

While he didn’t mint his Mad Lads (issues with the alarm…), he bought his first Lad the next day on the secondary market and has been diamond-handing ever since

Why hold for over two years?

• The Community

• The Vibe

• The Art

• Backpack

Best part of being a Mad Lad?

Meeting over 100+ Lads IRL, vibing on X, hanging in the Chinese Community chatroom and of course… juicy airdrops!

What could make it even better?

More regional meetups organized by community members around the world

Zapplest

Zappnftlest is a French goat who purchased SOL at $2 in January 2021 and has been involved since then. From owning multiple tech companies to minting DAA and Mad Lads, he’s known for being crazy and snipping grails on the market

As a true Mad Lad, Zapplest minted during the whitelist phase. Being an IT guy, he was instantly hooked by the concept of xNFTs and did everything he could to stack WL spots: giveaways, games, even a bit of “strategic bribing” here and there

Back then, he was living in Los Angeles, where everything was about and around DeGods... until he met Mad Lads. That’s when a whole new love story began

Why hold for over two years?
If you know Zapplest, you know he’s diamond-handing his bag. In fact, he's been buying more Mad Lads in recent months. The reason?

• Total trust in the team

• Holder culture

• The community (copy pasta, raids and vibes)

Best part of being a Mad Lad?

Being part of a vibrant community, having recognition and peace of mind

What could make it even better?

More IRL events and more active members but since a few months it’s been increasing by a lot and he likes that. Zapplest also keeps it real: he’s not the biggest fan of people who only show up for the airdrops but he gets it… after all, they're also part of the Mad Lads family and as a true Mad Lad would say: WAO

You recently bought a Skull, what motivated this move, especially in the current market some people would say you're crazy

I am definitely crazy haha, but if you put things in perspective, I remember buying floor Mad Lads in 2024 at nearly 200 SOL a piece. So when I compare that with the price of the Skull I paid… it’s a great deal. It gets you access to private events worldwide, recognized easily, token deals, alpha and more.

I’ve always wanted a Skull since mint, but I couldn’t find one I liked until recently, when I found a friendly seller and at a price I felt being reasonable. With only 99 in worldwide circulation, you can’t find one easily!

I needed one banger to be able to switch my pfp from my mythic Drop Bear pfp that I minted and was attached to. This skull will represent my identity from now on!

Celeste

Celeste joined the crypto-sphere 3 years ago and fell in love with the NFT space 2 years back. While working as a Manager and Accountant at a major firm, she always felt something was missing… ART! That passion led her to take the leap recently, launching a creative project with two of her best friends

Celeste didn’t mint her Mad Lads, in fact, she was pretty unaware of Mad Lads mint at the time. Later on, when she discovered the art, the culture and the community it was an instant match!

In September 2024, fully believing in Armani and the team, she pulled the trigger and bought her first Mad Lads!

Why hold for over two years?

It’s easy, the idea that Mad Lads will get to 1000 SOL floor price!

Other than that, the reasons are quite simple :

• Art

• Culture

• Friendship and support from the community

• The team

Best part of being a Mad Lad?

• Building friendships with the most amazing, funny, and supportive people

• Holding a truly mesmerizing Mad Lads

• Getting sweet airdrops

There is a fourth bonus bulletpoint… seeing Vincent and Zeck roasting each other on the TL

What could make it even better?

Celeste would love to see more being done with the Mad Lads IP, maybe something like “Adventures of the Lads”, expanding the lore and bringing the characters to life in new ways. She’s also hoping for more IRL events near her area to meet more Mad Lads and vibes together!

Harold

Harold, the one and only Dominican Mad Lads holder (even Skull holder)! He’s a proud father of a boy and girl, he joined the crypto-world late 2017 and never left ever since. Besides being in the trenches, Harold enjoys going in the nature and walking

As a real Mad Lads, Harold minted during the whitelist phase. When he discovered the project and learnt about Tristan and Armani, he knew it was THE project to mint!

Why hold for over two years?

• Community and friendship

• Founders, developpers and builders repping Mad Lads PFP

• Being on TOP

Harold mentionned a very interesting point:
Today on X, builders, founders and developpers all are Mad Lads holders or have some in their team. Being a Mad Lads isn’t just a flex, it’s a powerful signal!

Best part of being a Mad Lad?

• Community

• Opportunities

• Merch (even tho Harold still got no merch :kek:)

What could make it even better?

Harold misses the good old days when the official Mad Lads account was posting wild and chaotic content every single day. The madness, the memes, the mayhem… he hopes that energy come back soon!

LADS Tag on Discord

The LADS tag was added to the Mad Lads Discord server. Rock it right now to represent Mad Lads everywhere on Discord!

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• AltCryptoCast x Armani Ferrante - Leaving Apple & Solana to Build the Next Big Crpyto Exchange

• Backpack Season 1 AMA x Mad Vincent, Prof Jo, Cx and Mad Coach

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mLiRvzacseoh3b_STHfVvsUEu-7ZAjMA/view

• Mikel x La Familia - Why is everyone talking about BACKPACK?

• Roundtable Network x Armani Ferrante - Centralized exchanges are 'safest' path to self-custody

https://x.com/RTB_io/status/1933152142807663098

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

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Mad Lads holders had some amazing time in Dubai for Token2049 with an exclusive party on the beach!

From May 19th to 23rd, New York will be the city of acceleration. During those five days, numerous conferences and events will take place. In this Mad News edition we will explain more about it and what you can expect if you’re around.

May also marked the addition of Sui blockchain support in the Backpack wallet, bringing a lot of projects and features to discover.

Token2049 review

From April 30 to May 1, TOKEN2049 Dubai took place with over 15000 attendees and 200+ speakers. The energy was very positive, with the following key themes driving the conversation: AI meets blockchain, Layer 2 and multichain innovation, privacy-first protocols, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks).

Of course, it wouldn’t be TOKEN2049 without Armani on stage. Armani joined a talkers panel to dive deep into the evolution of digital asset markets. From speculative chaos to institutional clarity, the conversation explored how crypto is maturing and how traditional finance is finally catching up with crypto-currencies.

Mad Lads and Backpack had an unforgettable evening event where drinks flowed, snacks disappeared, and connections were made. The vibes? Immaculate. The Lads? MAD

Pivoting from Stocks to Socks

During the month, Backpack team members dropped some sneaky teases on the timeline about new socks in ACCELERATE design, black-and-white combos, even that 9-5 blue, however, something even bigger hit the timeline…

https://x.com/Luc100k/status/1922284598999831022

BACKPACK EXCLUSIVE MERCH announcement with instant speculation: is it safety-first drip? Socks? Hoodies? Jewelry? Something else?

Stay tuned

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1922953468337172870

ACCELERATE (19th-23rd, NY City)

Solana Accelerate 2025 is a week-long conference held in New York City from May 19 to May 23 2025. It is designed as a “mini Breakpoint” for the Solana community. The goal is to celebrate American innovation in crypto and shape “the next chapter of blockchain in America”. The event is structured into two flagship conferences plus numerous side events:

• Scale or Die (May 19–20): a developer-only, workshop-driven conference focused on deep technical topics and scaling the global demand

• Ship or Die (May 22–23): a public conference bringing together the broader ecosystem. From business and finance leaders to policy-makers, showcasing the best products of the “American crypto renaissance”

Speakers

The speaker lineup is truly outstanding, featuring a wide range of top-tier voices in the space, including:

• Kirsten Gillibrand (U.S. Senate - Senator)

• Kevin Bowers (Firedancer - Chief Scientist)

• Mert Mumtaz (Helius - CEO)

• Amir Haleen (Helium - Co-founder & Co-CEO)

• Jeremy Allaire (Circle - Co-founder / Chairman & CEO)

• Luca Netz (Pudgy Penguins - CEO)

• Chris Chang - (Ghost Co-founder)

and much more

Agenda

With so many talks, events, and workshops happening throughout the week, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Be sure to check out both lu.ma pages and build your own agenda based on your interests:

• https://lu.ma/solana-accelerate

• https://lu.ma/solana-nyc?tag=accelerate

Even if you can’t physically attend, some events are available online!

https://x.com/SolanaSkyline/status/1923833553785119057/photo/1

Sui

Sui is a high-performance, layer-1 blockchain built for speed, scalability, and user-friendly experiences. A growing number of exciting projects and applications are being developed on Sui, including an upcoming mint from Claynosaurz. Backpack now fully supports Sui in the wallet and on top of that, users can earn rewards through partner apps directly from the wallet, as well as over $60k rewards on the exchange for new users and traders!

https://x.com/Backpack/status/1922275645389672714

Mad Lads x SuiLend AMA

Gidwell (Growth Lead at Suilend), joined the MAD AMA to discuss Suilend and the bonus campaign to earn $SEND tokens using Backpack wallet.

Here is a short summary of this AMA:

Gid’s Journey: From flipping NFTs to working for OpenSea, Gid is now working for Suilend, leading liquid staking, AMMs, and campaign infrastructure on Sui

Why Sui Stands Out: Sui offers Facebook-tier infrastructure, low competition, and strong builder support. It’s designed for DeFi volume and scalability

Backpack: First wallet to integrate Suilend natively, Backpack offers seamless UX for DeFi, NFTs, and points campaigns all in one place. It’s the fastest gateway into Sui and trusted by builders

Mad Lads Lead the Charge: The most creative and loyal community on Solana continues to set the tone, not just on Sol, but now also into Sui. Mad Lads isn’t just an NFT it’s a movement

Backpack x Suilend Campaign: Deposit via Backpack to earn rewards. Top 1000 depositors share 10000 $SEND, with boosted points for stablecoins and LST strategies

Alpha to Act On: Season 2 is closing soon (end of the month). You can earn Capsules which will convert into a $SEND airdrop by creating content like educational posts, memes, or anything that comes to mind. A new Mad Capsules Campaign will be live in the next few hours

Backpack Exchange News

Backpack Exchange has been making serious waves lately. From hitting new all-time highs in weekly stats to reimbursing FTX EU customers, May was without a doubt a very good month for the Exchange. Brick by brick, it’s just getting started.

FTX EU Customers, withdrawals are now live

Former FTX EU customers may now complete the two-step process to claim their Euro funds via Backpack EU

1. Get Verified
2. Withdraw Funds

Lend SOL & USD, Stack Yield

You can now lend native SOL on the Exchange and earn a sweet 12.24% APY. Prefer stablecoins? You're looking at a 5.56% APY.

Just deposit and lend. That’s it!

Week 7

• $3.2B in total volume

• $560M in 24h perps volume

• $189M in open interest

• $100M in lending

Week 8

• $4.6B total volume

• $1.0B in 24h perps volume

• $230M open interest

• $207M assets under custody

• $148M lent assets

AI Lads

The Mad Lads community never stops imagining. How dope would it be to have actual toys based on our Mad Lads? Well, some members almost turned it to reality! From Playmobil to LEGO and even Play-Doh.

Who knows, maybe physical Mad Lads aren’t that far away…

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• magFOMO x Armani Ferrante

https://x.com/magFOMO/status/1921652951841464490

• Bitcoin.com x Armani Ferrante - From Apple engineer to architecting a crypto-native financial empire on Solana

https://x.com/BTCTN/status/1922235252145357140

• Tristan x Mert Mumtaz: Solana, Company Building, Culture, Incentives, and Risk Taking

https://x.com/tristan/status/1917213241857683822

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

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April kicked off with a banger from OpenAI - the release of ChatGPT 4.0, unlocking powerful image and visual generation for everyone. And as you might expect, the Mad Lads community took advantage of it to create content!

The month felt like a rollercoaster for the markets, shaken by President Trump’s tariff announcement, which sent waves through both crypto and stocks market.

April also marked the end of the vested Wormhole airdrop tied to Mad Lads… what a ride it’s been!

Thanks to Mad Lads and Backpack, the month also was filled with meetups and events all around the world!

Mad AI Lads

The Mad Lads didn’t waste a second. As soon as ChatGPT 4.0’s image generation dropped, the timeline lit up. We already knew the community had elite meme and content game, but this new update took it to a whole new level!

Let’s take a look at what the community has been cooking…

Lads Park

Inspired by the iconic style of South Park, the Mad Lads community took over Cartman’s world!

Let’s take a look at Mad Lads as if they were born straight outta South Park:

Bulls Lads

Back in April 2022, DeGods made waves by buying a 3v3 basketball team. This year, the Mad Lads said “hold my Gatorade” and became one!

Lets’ take a look at our new team:

Mad Cards

Some members of the Mad Lads community had their PFPs graded by PSA, and as expected, every single one got a perfect grade of 10.

Certified rare. Certified iconic.

Mad Lads AMAs

The Mad Lads Discord turned into the go-to hub of AMAs during April. The community had the privilege to learn from Zagabond (Azuki Founder), James Hunsaker (Monad Co-Founder), 0xsebastiena (Sophon Co-Founder) and even a special Backpack AMA with Armani in Backpack Discord.

Here is a short summary of the Mad Lads x Zagabond AMA :

• IP, Culture & Community-Driven Growth: Zagabond dove into Azuki’s brand identity, how it stands out with anime, streetwear, and pop culture influence, and emphasized how community feedback has shaped the project’s evolution

• Behind-the-Scenes Stories: From meeting Steamboy (legendary Overwatch artist), to surviving public backlash over past projects, Zagabond shared raw founder struggles and the journey that shaped Azuki today

• Big Moves & Future Plans: Azuki is going mainstream with the acquisition of Anime.com, a trading card game in development, and plans for an anime series. Plus, iconic items like gold skateboards and silk bombers cement Azuki’s place in Web3 culture

Here is a short summary of the Mad Lads x James AMA :

• James’ Crypto Origin & Monad’s Vision: From high-frequency trading to shitcoin hustling, James shared his journey through Jump Crypto, building Pyth, and eventually co-founding Monad; an EVM chain blending Ethereum's innovation with Solana’s speed. Testnet is live, and mainnet is just around the corner

• Tech Deep Dive & Community Vibes: Monad aims for 10k TPS with affordable nodes (~$1,000 PCs), a custom-built database, and strong decentralization goals (3,000+ nodes). James stressed the importance of making crypto fun and not just profitable

• NFTs, AI, and Mad Lads Love: Though late to NFTs, James is now fully onboard, rocking a Mad Lad and enjoying the testnet mint scene. He shared cautious thoughts on AI in crypto and gave shoutouts to Fantasy Top, Backpack, and the Mad Lads squad for their early and ongoing support

Here is a short summary of the Mad Lads x Sophon AMA :

• Mad Lads x Sophon Alliance: Mad Lads were selected as 1 of 7 “Friends of Sophon”, and the only Solana-native project, thanks to unmatched vibes and community alignment

• Sophon’s Vision: Building Web2-style apps powered by zkSync + ZK-proofs, Sophon aims to return ownership of data, engagement, and value to users with real-world use cases in gaming, events, and AI

• Mass Adoption in Sight: With partnerships like Trial Xtreme and Open, plus frictionless onboarding (no wallets or seed phrases), Sophon is looking to become one of the most used crypto platforms by DAU

Here is a short summary of the Backpack AMA :

• All-in-One Financial Hub: Backpack merges crypto, equities, and treasuries into one platform redefining what a crypto exchange can be, with a focus on compliance and censorship resistance

• Wallet + Exchange Fusion: Seamless onboarding (email login, no seed phrases) with full self-custody and smart account abstraction. Everyone will be able to use it

• Capital Efficiency & Long-Term Vision: Cross-margin, auto-lending, and real yield on idle assets, backed by strong compliance and a mission to build a long-term, community-first financial movement

Backpack Boost

It’s no secret that using Backpack Wallet gives you a serious edge, not just in user experience, but also in rewards and boosts!

You can currently enjoy :

• 3% Petals Boost on Perena

• 30% F Points Boost on Fragmetric

• 10% Passive Grass Boost on Turbo Tap (Eclipse)

• Many extra points and collectible on various Monad Projects

• Much more!

Backpack isn’t just a wallet… it’s your key to maxing out every opportunity in the ecosystem!

IRL Events, meetups and challenges

April was once again filled with IRL events and meetups all around the globe.

Many Lads and Backpack supporters participated in those events, repping the brand, connecting, and making memories!

All upcoming events are listed on madlads-hub.xyz/events-list

Monad Bangkok Connect

During this event, attendees had the chance to dive deeper into Monad, connect with new people, and of course, grab some insanely cool merch!

Mad Night Hong Kong

All Mad Lads holders were kindly invited to Hong Kong for a Mad Night; a sweet mix of live concert, drinks, merch and fun!

https://x.com/madlads_mcm/status/1906359495598690542

Backpack Brunch

Backpack supporters and Mad Lads holders gathered for a special brunch in Paris, with a beautiful view of the Seine. Not only enjoyed the moment but also secured their exclusive merch!

Rumor has it that Alexana and Coach were cooking up some special content during the Paris brunch…

Mad Lads x El Camino De Santiago

CarreNFT completed a 192km journey in 7 days, walking from Villafranca del Bierzo to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Mad Lads are definitely built different!

Mad Mariage

In September 2024, the Mad Lads community celebrated a beautiful event; the first-ever Mad Lads wedding, with Wendy and Cuong!

Now, in April 2025, the community is coming together once again to celebrate the marriage of Fomo Shark and Lassie An. The whole community is invited to share in the joy in Da Nang - Viet Nam!

Wishing them a lifetime of love, laughter, and legendary memories!

https://x.com/ishneet2/status/1910607252379328704

TOKEN2049 (30th April - 1st May)

Armani will be taking the stage as a speaker at TOKEN2049 in Dubai at the end of the month!

TOKEN2049 is one of the biggest crypto event, organised annually in Dubai and Singapore, where founders and executives of the leading Web3 companies and projects share their view on the industry.

Planning to attend? Don’t miss out on connecting with the Lads by joinning this Telegram group https://t.me/Lads_in_Dubai

Backpack Season recaps

Backpack Season I is heating up, and while the market rides up and down with President Trump’s tariff announcement, one thing is clear: Backpack trader points are only going up!

Let’s take a look at how things are stacking up week by week:

Week 1

• $1.68B in total spot + perps volume

• 20K+ active traders

Week 2

• $2.9B total volume

• $620M in 24hr perps volume

• 35K unique traders

Week 3

With new features like audible trade notifications, ROI tracking, funding rate pages, detailed chart views, and trigger price upgrades Backpack leveled up, and so did the stats:

• $4.1B in total volume

• $950M in 24hr perps volume

• $113M in open interest

• 46K unique traders

Week 4

- $3.2B in total volume

- $131M in Open Interest

- 35.5K unique traders

Brick by brick, Backpack is setting a new standard in the CEX game.

To everyone still waiting for access due to regional restrictions, your time is coming. And when it does, you’ll be able to add your own brick to the Backpack legacy!

$WAO

April 17, 2024 – Wormhole and Mad Lads dropped something never seen before in the NFT space: the Wormhole Badge. By simply opening your Mad Lads xNFT, you could claim daily $W tokens, up to 16000 $W over time.

As if that wasn’t enough, each eligible Lad got a 4000 $W token shortly after TGE.

It’s been a wild ride, one that showed the true potential of xNFTs and the strength of Mad Lads community.

Huge thanks to Wormhole. $WAO!

MAD MERCH

Do not miss the brand new MAD LADS BOMBER JACKET PRE-ORDER!

If you are a proud Mad Lads owner, head over to https://shop.backpack.exchange/products/mad-lads-bomber-jacket, connect your wallet to get the discount automatically applied and pre-order your merch! This is running until the 5th May.

https://x.com/i/status/1914163746890830198

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

• The Rollup x Armani Ferrante x 0xMert - Solana Super Apps

https://x.com/therollupco/status/1914323662477443415

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

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Alpha Everywhere: Armani’s Podcast Marathon

Armani Ferrante kicked off the month by dropping Mad Merch teases in every interview. The first was with Jacquelyn Melinek, co-founder and CEO of Token Relations—a company bridging the gap between blockchain projects and their communities—where we caught a glimpse of the “Fock it.” bomber jacket.

Right after, we found out that Armani had recorded an interview with Coinage Media, a community-owned outlet tackling big questions in crypto.

Armani sat down for an interview with Suki, breaking down the vision behind Backpack and Mad Lads. And, of course, he was rocking the Fock It jacket!

We told you March was packed with interviews! Armani also had a conversation with Mable Jiang for episode 52 of his podcast “Backpack and Its Multi-Cycle Ambition”.

Can you spot the Backpack during Armani’s interview with Skyline, the Solana’s ecosystem hub in the heart of NYC?

Bonnie Blockchain had the pleasure of chatting with Armani for over an hour. A great reminder: real growth doesn’t happen in just one bull-bear cycle. Patience is key—no need to rush!

The most iconic moment, complete with images that should be the cover of The New York Times, was the interview with Remy Blaire at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

NYSE is the largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization. Founded in 1792 and located on Wall Street in New York City, it serves as a global hub for trading stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments.

Backpack Validator launches $bpSOL

Stake right now using the new LST Token from Backpack, the $bpSOL! With 0% Commission and 0% MEV Commission it is currently sitting at an APY of 9.67%

You can learn more about the Backpack validator with this interview featuring Gonzalo (MadMonkey) and Sanctum

Backpack introduces Season 1

Get your Backpack Exchange account ready… Season 1 is about to kick off! In April’s Mad News, we’ll break down the first few weeks of the season and how to get involved!

If you need any help to setup your Backpack Exchange account, you ask for help in the Backpack Discord, on the Backpack Exchange Help Center, or you can follow the guide on Mad Lads Hub by @chocoo_web3.

General News

La Familia

La Familia, a Spanish community, hosted their first major event around Solana in Madrid, and it was absolutely INSANE! Mikel, the head behind growing Backpack Exchange in Europe, was a speaker there.

Mad Lads riding Monad Testnet

The Mad Lads community has been the most active during the Monad Testnet, with many holders launching their own Testnet mints. All of them received massive support from Lads, strengthening the relation between our community members

Play Mad Survivor

There is a new category on the Mad Lads Culture Hub by @chocoo_web3 called “mini-games”. Try it now and share your best score on X!

Lads Follow Lads

@jordanmitchel started a X list of Lads to follow, make sure to take a look at it!

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

Alongside the many interviews and podcasts from Armani and the team, Backpack co-founder Tristan Yver has been building out content for his Y-Axis podcast.

• Dan Matuszewksi: Bitcoin, Stablecoins, ETFs, Crypto Trading & Market Structure

• James Hunsaker: Monad, Start Ups, Engineering, Hiring & Community

  

• Arnold Lee - Sphere, Payments, Solana, Growth & Hiring

  

  ---

  Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!
  

  If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!
  

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Thanks to Mad Lads and Backpack, the month delivered excitement at NFT Paris, Hong Kong Consensus, and ETH Denver.

NFT Paris meets the Mad Lads

On February 13th and 14th, Paris turned red as crypto enthusiasts wearing Backpack flooded the city. A special dinner was organized, bringing our Lads and Lassies together for a wonderful evening

Key takeaways from the 2025 edition:

• Web3 in e-commerce is becoming a priority for generating revenue and value

• Projects are focusing on immersive experiences rather than traditional “staking”

• Real-world assets (RWA) are gaining traction, though regulation and infrastructure remain significant challenges

Honk Kong Consensus

Consensus, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential crypto event, brings together key players from DeFi, blockchain, Web3, and the metaverse. Mad Lads had a strong presence at the event, and a special dinner was organized with our founder, Armani Ferrante

Key takeaways from the 2025 edition:

• Hong Kong’s SFC is pushing forward with 12 initiatives to strengthen the virtual asset space, granting New York’s Bullish the first international virtual asset trading platform license

• Institutional players are doubling down on crypto, signaling a market shift toward maturity and adoption

• AI and blockchain integration is taking center stage, enhancing smart contracts, security, and decentralized governance in Web3

ETH Denver

Our CEO and founder, Armani Ferrante, took the main stage to share his insights on the future of crypto exchanges

Key takeaways from the 2025 edition:

• Not ethereum Denver, on-stage content featured vocal Ethereum critics and alternative ecosystems. The exhibition space and sponsorships were dominated by competing L1s like Solana, Move, Monad, Sui, and NEAR

• Bitcoin’s ecosystem is resurging with new protocols unlocking yield opportunities, while AI’s integration with blockchain faces scaling challenges

• DePIN projects are showing real-world traction and is emerging as the most immediately promising and impactful sector

A special event also took place during ETH Denver, where Mad Lads and Backpack enthusiasts gathered to have fun and score some exclusive merch!

General News

Monad Testnet

Monad officially launched their testnet on February 19th. Don’t waste any more time, add it to your Backpack wallet and start exploring their ecosystem!

Backpack Public Beta

In February, Backpack launched the public beta of their futures trading feature, offering many rewards for traders. Many new tokens like $HYPE from BeraChain, $IP from Story Protocol or even $BNB from Binance were added to the Exchange

Institutions are here

It’s still unclear what is the real reason behind this post, but Fock it, Mad Lads on top

PODCAST CORNER 🎙️

February was a month full of podcasts and interviews featuring our beloved team and founder:

• Why Crypto Wallets Are Broken | Armani Ferrante

• Crypto exchanges, security and Solana’s rise in 2025: Backpack CEO

  https://cointelegraph.com/news/how-centralized-exchanges-evolve-2025

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we really appreciate it!

If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends!

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Forged in the depths of a bear market, they weathered the crypto winter without complaint. In 2024, they transformed the WAO mentality into a tangible force, attracting airdrops at a mindboggling pace and putting Mad Lads at the forefront of the Solana NFT ecosystem.

Self-organized groups like Lads Avenue (RIP), Mad Moon, WAO Assembly, and LADS KITCHEN have orchestrated countless raids, acted as a welcoming committee for new holders and remain a constant source of alpha.

Fock it.

Subscribe now

Table Of Contents 📰

• By the numbers 📈

• 2024 was Laddrop season 🪂

• LOTWs bring a heartbeat to the blockchain ❤️‍🔥

• Badges of honor 🎒

• Mad Lads went global 🌍

• The Roster abides 🎿

• Lads are VIPs on Backpack 📊

• Nothing but the hits 💎

I have long spoken about how NFT collections could potentially earn awesome collective purchasing power, due not only to positive brand association, but also the huge value of getting the targeted attention of a strong and real community.

And that’s why I’m now glad to be Mad.

@gametheorizing

By the numbers 📈

Mad Lads minted into Solana royalty on April 20th, 2023 for 6.9 SOL. At the time SOL was trading at $22. Since then the floor price is 69 (giggity) with SOL trading at $193.

I'll let you do the math but this represents a return of: Fock it.

• Holders: 5.18K unique wallets (~3,500 individuals)

• % of NFTs Listed: 2.73%

• Total Secondary Volume: 3.51M SOL

• Highest Sale: 3675 SOL

• Highest Floor Price: 227 SOL

• Mad Validator stake: 588,992 SOL

• Airdrops: [TOO MANY TO COUNT]