Mad News: May 2025

Brick by brick, Backpack is spreading its wings. Solana is in ACCELERATE mode. Holders having fun!

May 20, 2025

May was full of good vibes in the Web3 ecosystem. The news that President Donald Trump reached a deal with President Xi Jinping on the tariff issue was a major positive development, and the markets responded with a lot of green candles. Solana even revisited the $180 range!

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:

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…