2023 In Review: A Year Of Making The Impossible Possible

Follow the Backpack and Mad Lads journey as they build through a harsh crypto winter and come out on the other side as one of the most prominent platforms in the industry.

2023 began with a whimper and ended with a bang.

The Solana community was entrenched in a harsh crypto winter while the future of crypto was decidedly uncertain.

Backpack was just beginning to develop its identity, Mad Lads did not exist and the prospect of launching an Exchange was outside the realm of consideration.

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Backpack Wallet and xNFT development began in March 2022, artwork for the yet-to-be-named Mad Lads collection started in September 2022 and the team solidified their presence with a keynote speech at Breakpoint in November 2022.

Within days of Breakpoint the entire crypto industry was rocked by the collapse of FTX and the ensuing chaos that sent markets into a tailspin.

Over the next year the Backpack team continued to ship wallet improvements, add functionality and eventually launched their cultural arm in the form of the Mad Lads NFT collection.

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Mad News launched in 2023 to deliver curated snapshots of Mad Lads and Backpack project updates, community highlights and interviews with Solana builders.

Today we take a look back at Mad News history to highlight how far we have come.

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June 📅

• First Edition “Fock It.” merchandise for Mad Lads holders

• Jack.poor goes MAD and shaves his head for the Lads

• Solana Mobile Saga offers free laser engravings for Mad Lads holders

• Mad Lads NFT staking goes live in the Backpack Wallet

• Holders receive first gold coins for staking

• YouTube prankster Jakey joins The Roster

• The Jakey Interview Part I

• Armani Ferrante announces Soul Abstraction and xNFT inventory

• Backpack Wallet mobile app design leaked

• Meltem Demirrors and Anatoly Yakovenko are Honorary Mad Lads

• Mad Lads meetup in India

• Mad Trading Wars competition on Zeta Markets

• Sol Samurais subcommunity claims victory in Mad Trading Wars

Mad Lads At War!

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July 📅

• Mad Lads meetup in Hong Kong

• Mad Lads meetup in Vietnam Part I

• Mad Lads meetup in Vietnam Part II

• Mad Lads meetup in Singapore

• Mad Lads x Solana meetup in Tokyo

  

• First time that Mad Lads community shows raid strength

• xNFT Hackathon w/ Superteam Germany

• xNFT Library hits 110+ dApps

• The 0xMert Interview

• The Rogue Sharks Interview

The 0xMert Interview

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August 📅

• Tristan Yver explains what The Roster is

• Big wave surfer Tyler Larronde joins The Roster

• First LAD OF THE WEEK: Blackfish

• The Jon Wong Interview Part I

• The Jon Wong Interview Part 2

• Armani Ferrante discusses early design process of Mad Lads artwork

• Tattoo artist for Lads at Breakpoint

• xNFT Speedrun gaming hackathon winner

• OPOS Hackathon gives way to 11 new xNFTs

• Austin Federa is an Honorary Mad Lad

• Lads take on Uber

• Foil surfer Nick Kapule joins The Roster

• The Jakey Interview Part 2

• The Amy Street Interview

• Mad Lads meetup at Token 2049

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September 📅

• Mad Lads turn into social media engagement machine for Rear Wing Takeover

• The Armani Ferrante pullup challenge

• Mad Artwork submitted for Breakpoint ticket competition

• Winners of the Breakpoint ticket competition

• The spacemandev Interview

• The Solana Legend Interview

The Solana Legend Series: Blue Oceans & The Future Of Web3 In Asia

• Mad Lads meetup at Korean Blockchain Week

• Tristan Yver talks about the Mad Lads origin story

• Four more xNFT dApps hit xNFT Library

• MadCrab David is the newest Honorary Mad Lad

• The first “X” teaser video

• Michelin integrates Mad Lads traits into their Ethereum NFT collection

• 1/1 Davey Jones NFT released

• Backpack DRiP channel is released

• Mad Lads five month mint anniversary

• Mad Lads meetup in India

• Backpack receives major release

• Lads form football team for Big Brain Super League tournament

• Fan art is taken to a whole new level

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October 📅

• Collection locking secures Mad Lads NFTs

• Backpack Wallet partners with Blowfish for added levels of security

• BMX’er Dane Greer joins The Roster

• Community gets Rick Rolled again

• Mad Lads six month mint anniversary

• Attis’s Lassie shines on the back of F1 race car

• Mad Lads Instagram houses all Roster content

• Community artwork goes hard in the paint

• Mad Lads meme depository is filled with fan art

• 1/1 Tony Montana Mad Lad released

• Professional snowboarder Lyon Farrell joins The Roster

• The Tiffany Huang Interview: Going All In On Crypto

• Mad Lads onboard ETH maxis to Solana Part I

• Mad Lads onboard ETH maxis to Solana Part II

• The Anatoly Yakovenko Interview: Building A Better Blockchain

The Toly Interview: Building A Better Blockchain

• The Matty Tay Interview: Road To Solana Breakpoint 2023

• Mad Lads Breakpoint 2023 recap

• Mad Skulls Council forms

• The Fluxbeam Interview: Token-2022, The Future Of SVM Tokens

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November 📅

• Backpack Exchange announced to world at Breakpoint 2023

• 90,000 signup for Backpack Exchange in first week

• Apple iOS mobile application launched

• Android mobile application launched

• Pyth staking competition rewards Mad Lads holders the most

• Mad News expanded language channels: Vietnamese, Chinese and Turkish

• Madsterdam Breakpoint 2023 recap

• Backpack Exchange opens doors to users for first time (100,000+ signups)

• Mad Lads culture expanding into IRL

• Mad Skulls fireside chat with Armani Ferrante

• Armani Ferrante talks zero-knowledge proof of reserves

• Mad Lads NFT floor price hits all time highs

• Bitcoin and Ethereum maxis flood into Mad Lads community

• Professional surfer Kai Paula joins The Roster

• Backpack Exchange launches trading for 110,000+ users

• PYTH airdrop lands and trading launches on Backpack Exchange

• 1/1 Pythia NFT raffled off to luck Mad Lads holder

• Live recording of 1/1 Pythia NFT winner

• Mad Lads holders receive first soulbound badge

• Backpack onboards Token-2022 functionality in record time

• Mad Lads partner with A41 to expand Korea fanbase

• Backpack Exchange passes OtterSec security testing

• Skulls and Lassies are having a cultural moment

  Trait Talk 📻 Do It For The Skullture

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December 📅

• Backpack Exchange launches Subaccounts function

• Collection locking expands to include top Solana bluechip projects

• Wormhole teases Backpack partnership

• Backpack Wallet infrastructure goes completely opensource

• Collection locking saves Lads during major wallet hack

• Backpack Extension changes autolocking settings and expands withdrawal options in response to user requests

• Onboarding of Ethereum maxis continues via Mad Lads collection

• Community organized Lads Raid group is major force on Twitter

• Mad Lads eight month mint anniversary

• The Spottie Wifi Interview

• LOTW Giant Recap

• The Mad Monkey Interview

The Monkey Interview: Philosophy of WAO

• Mad Lads meetup at Taipei Blockchain Week

• Collection locking expands again to include more bluechip projects

• Backpack Exchange launches Advanced Trading views

• Jito token trading available on Backpack Exchange

• Backpack Wallet releases dark mode

• Backpack Wallet integrates real time token prices with Birdeye

  

• Tristan Yver and Armani Ferrante open up to the Japanese crypto community

• Collection locking goes live on mobile application

• Armani Ferrante talks about building a CEX on the Solfate Podcast

• Mad Lads holders receive early access to SolanaFM Quantum tool

• How to use Backpack for extra anonymity

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Subscribe to the Mad News to stay up to date on everything that happens in the Mad Lads and Backpack world!

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