Translated by: Everyday Blockchain

In November 2022, the collapse of FTX was like a deep-sea bomb, instantly wiping out years of credibility in the crypto industry and causing the assets of Armani Ferrante's company to evaporate by 90% overnight. Amidst the journey at ten thousand meters high, facing a near-deadlock financial test, this structural engineer deeply rooted in the Solana ecosystem chose not to exit but rather completed an ideological self-reflection on "who am I."

From those catastrophic ashes, Backpack was quietly born. It is not only a global trading platform with trading volume exceeding $420 billion but also a technological response from Armani to the "panopticon" style of modern surveillance systems. From the steady path at Apple's headquarters in Silicon Valley to the market gamble of the "sleeping giant" in Tokyo, from simple code to the community beliefs behind passionate young people, Armani deeply recounted that infernal moment for the first time in this interview. This is not only a hardcore history of entrepreneurial survival but also an ultimate prophecy about the wave of global financial asset tokenization in 2026. When cognition of reality diverges from truth, will you choose to go with the flow or rebuild rules from the ruins? The answer lies in this in-depth dialogue straddling the boundaries of philosophy and engineering.

Defining the Moment: Surviving from the Ashes of the FTX Collapse

Host: Let’s turn back the clock to that tumultuous moment. When FTX collapsed, Backpack was still a fledgling project, and you were in severe danger amid the disaster. I remember you mentioned that all of the company's assets were in FTX accounts at that time, right?

Armani Ferrante: That's right; that was a figure that would intrigue any entrepreneur. At that time, we had $14.5 million on FTX, which accounted for about 90% of our company's balance sheet. When I was on a flight from the Lisbon plains, seeing Crypto Twitter's messages continuously escalating through the sporadic Wi-Fi, I felt reality starting to collapse. If the rumors were true—later proved to be even worse than the rumors—then my company was basically declared dead.

In that high-altitude cabin, surrounded by peers attending the crypto conference who were also filled with anxiety, I couldn’t help but enter into an existential thought. I asked myself a fundamental question:Armani, what kind of person are you?

Are you the kind of person who gives up and laments the unfairness of fate when faced with a catastrophic blow of irresistible force, or are you the kind who, regardless of how heavy the adversity ahead may be, chooses to continue digging for opportunities and fighting to the end? Running a gas station on the corner, in extreme circumstances, the essence of the choice is the same. That moment, I realized this was a defining character moment. I chose the night. When the plane made an emergency landing, I was already prepared to fight until the last moment.

Host: This inclination is indeed moving. Ironically, you had two intersections with Alameda Research (the company founded by SBF). Did this "close observation" give you more complex feelings when facing the collapse later?

Armani Ferrante: This is indeed a wonderful serendipity. In 2018, I had just left Apple and was deeply attracted by the charm of Ethereum and blockchain's open source. Alameda was still hiring in Berkeley, needing engineers to build trading systems. I stayed there for three months, participating in early development, but soon realized that pure trading business was not my passion; I was more dedicated to building fundamental protocols and applications.

The second intersection was in 2020 when FTX had already accumulated resources, and they invited me back to drive the development of the Solana ecosystem. I wasn't working inside FTX but was coding infrastructure for the Solana network, like the early developer framework Anchor, multi-signature wallets, etc. The Solana wood was like a blank canvas, full of engineering challenges.

I must clarify one thing, which is the most profound feeling I had during the collapse: the huge disconnect between perceived reality and actual reality. When Solana fell to $8, mainstream media and social platforms labeled it as "the FTX chain," thinking SBF was doomed. But as someone who understood the ground truth, I knew that Solana's codebase, validator network, and FTX's financial conditions are two separate matters. The presence of strong nodes in a centralized network means it is a anti-fragile system; it won’t disappear just because a party falls.

The Panopticon and Free Will: The Philosophical Background of Crypto Technology

Host: When discussing "who you are" and the company's vision, you mentioned Michel Foucault and the concept of the "panopticon." This is a very profound entry point for a CEO with a technical background. Can you elaborate on how this philosophical metaphor has influenced your views on the crypto industry?

Armani Ferrante: The panopticon was initially a prison model designed by Jeremy Bentham: guards in the central tower can monitor all cells arranged in a circular pattern, and the inmates loudly know whether they are being watched at that moment. This unjust surveillance leads to the prisoners' "self-surveillance" and compliance.

In the digital age, we are actually living in an expanding government panopticon. Large tech companies and even public ledgers record every transaction, every text message we make. If you acknowledge that privacy is the cornerstone of humanity and freedom, then many of the blockchain technologies involved can indeed be misleading. The public ledgers of Bitcoin and Ethereum are fully transparent, and in a sense, tracking a Bitcoin is easier than tracking cash.

Host: So do you think existing blockchain technologies are insufficient in protecting freedom?

Armani Ferrante: Absolutely insufficient. If a system exposes all your financial history to the light of day, it becomes a perfect surveillance tool. This is why I have great respect for privacy-preserving technologies, such as zero-knowledge proofs used by Zcash.

In the process of building Backpack, we have been contemplating: are we adding bricks to this panopticon, or are we providing inexpensive tools for individuals to compete for this power through technological means? For ordinary people, they do not generally see their bank balance, our goal is to use the "atomicity" and "verifiability" of cryptographic technology to improve efficiency while closely retaining personal control over data and assets within a compliant framework. This is not just about writing code; it is a reallocation of power.

Host: Is this obsession with "building what you want" what you refer to as "the chip on your shoulder"—the very thing that inspires you to keep moving forward?

Armani Ferrante: Actually, I'm not used to overly romanticizing my struggle. If I had to name a motivation, it would be my love for "creation" itself. I am an engineer, and I see an idea transform from code into hundreds of products. The collapse of FTX indeed gave me a chance to prove myself, but I always believe that it isn’t the zeros in the bank account that define success; it’s whether you have enough resources to engage in more interesting and impactful experiments.

Many people postpone happiness in life, believing they will start living truly after making enough money and reaching a certain milestone. But this "postponement of life" is the root of suffering. You can choose the lifestyle you want today, be with interesting people, and tackle tricky problems. This immediate, process-based satisfaction is the most effective nourishment against adversity.

The Tokenization Revolution of Finance: From "Makeshift Stage" to Infrastructure

Host: You have a unique optimism about the current crypto industry, especially since the market sentiment for 2026 is not very high. Do you think the financial field is at a turning point?

Armani Ferrante: Yes. If the previous crypto cycles were more about narratives, speculation, and meme coins' frenzy, then we are now entering a phase of "grounding infrastructure." Look at the top-tier institutions on Wall Street; people like Larry Fink talk a lot about their AI, but privately they are more optimistic about asset tokenization.

Imagine the dilemma in traditional finance: if you buy a share of Apple, the settlement involves a complex chain behind it. From brokers to global custodians, to central securities depositories (CSD), each level needs to verify. This leads to T+2 or even longer settlement delays. On the blockchain, we can unify the archiving of assets, trading logic, and fund settlements into one "atomic operation." This process of condensing deep learning time into a global state machine will release massive capital efficiency.

Host: Is that the core issue Backpack wants to solve? Please explain your "Unified Margin Account" product to the average user.

Armani Ferrante: In simple terms, the current financial system is fragmented. You deposit money in a bank, buy stocks through a brokerage, and buy coins on a crypto trading platform. If you want to use stocks as collateral to borrow money, the process is indeed very cumbersome.

Backpack’s "Unified Margin Account" breaks down the walls between these asset classes. If you hold quality tokenized assets (whether tokenized government bonds, stocks, or cryptocurrencies), you can directly use them as collateral to borrow liquidity without needing to sell the assets or trigger taxable events. This is a high-end financial service usually enjoyed by high-net-worth individuals (ultra-high-net-worth individuals) in the traditional world. What we are doing is to democratize this service through smart contracts and real-time risk engines, allowing ordinary users globally to access it.

Host: This sounds like Backpack is becoming a global, regulated super financial application.

Armani Ferrante: That's right. We are not just creating a trading platform; we are using the high-performance Solana network to reconstruct the structure of modern markets. Solana's high TPS (transactions per second) is not just a technical parameter; it means we achieve real-time risk management. In traditional finance, if the market crashes, it may take several hours or even days, causing chain reactions. In contrast, on Solana, we can complete hedging and clearing in milliseconds, significantly reducing systemic risk and thus providing higher leverage efficiency.

Strategic Shift and Opportunities in Japan: Why Choose Tokyo?

Host: Since the goal is global, why did you move your headquarters and focus of life to Tokyo? Three years ago, when you left California, many people were not optimistic about Japan's crypto market.

Armani Ferrante: Choosing Tokyo is a well-considered strategic gamble. Japan holds a special place in crypto history. As early as 2017, more than half of the global Bitcoin trading volume came from Japan. Although regulatory tightening occurred due to early hacking incidents, it was precisely for this reason that Japan established a very mature and transparent regulatory framework.

We consider Japan a "sleeping giant." With the Cambodian government clearly proposing Web3 as part of its national strategy, along with potential tax reforms (from 55% to around 20%), the vitality of this market is being reignited.

More importantly, the Japanese market has extremely high barriers to entry. Due to the uniqueness of language, culture, and regulatory requirements, U.S. companies (like Coinbase and Gemini) find it challenging to establish themselves here directly. For a team like Backpack, which is willing to deeply engage locally and respect regulations, this represents a vast blue ocean. We are not just seeking office space; we are rooting ourselves here, growing together with Japan's financial ecosystem.

Host: Regarding regulation, you once mentioned that FTX spent $800 million on licenses in its heyday, while you obtained a similar combination of licenses at a very low cost. What’s the secret?

Armani Ferrante: There are no shortcuts in regulation, but there is a "latecomer advantage." Many established trading platforms face the problem of having operated for a few years without regulations, which forces them to shift to compliance later. This leads to a huge accumulation of "compliance finances" and architectural patches, and they must give up on costly legal audits to clear these historical issues.

Backpack designed its systems with regulatory standards from day one. Our custody methods, risk engines, and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures are built in sync with system architecture. Moreover, we have a cross-disciplinary team that truly understands finance and law. When your system itself is transparent and auditable, your communication costs with regulatory agencies significantly decrease. We are not earning trust by technological strength.

The Power of Culture: Mad Lads and Community Bonds

Host: We must talk about Mad Lads. As the founder of a trading platform, you created one of the most influential NFT series on Solana. At first, this seemed like a sideline, but now it seems to have become your core asset?

Armani Ferrante: This is exactly what I want to emphasize: in the crypto world, "people" are always more important than technology.

NFTs, to me, are essentially a social text. Whether you are in Tokyo, New York, or London, if you have a Mad Lad avatar on Twitter or speak up on Discord, you can instantly find a group of like-minded individuals. Mad Lads represents a spirit of "not giving up," a cultural symbol of the Solana community continuing to build even in the darkest times.

This new culture has brought tremendous loyalty to Backpack. At several stages, you need not only users but also "driving forces"—those who understand your vision and are willing to accompany you in iterative product development. Mad Lads gave us that sense of identity, allowing us to always know who we are serving while building products.

Host: This transformation from culture to product is indeed very rare. At the end of the interview, what advice do you have for those builders struggling in the 2026 market?

Armani Ferrante: Stay optimistic, stay curious, and most importantly: do what truly excites you.

The crypto industry is like a massive laboratory in its early stages. We will experience explosive growth as well as catastrophic failures like FTX. But remember, the evolution of underlying technology is not influenced by personal will. Tokenization, decentralization, and personal sovereignty are irreversible trends.

2026 is still the best era for construction. If you can choose to move forward even under the threat of zeroing out your asset holdings, you will find that the most fascinating aspect of this industry lies not in the outline of price curves but in the fact that we are actively participating in creating the global infrastructure of the future. Don’t postpone your life to reach some elusive milestone; start building now, start living now.

Host: Thank you, Armani. Your enthusiasm and romanticism towards engineering are truly infectious. Thank you for sustaining our strong confidence in this era filled with uncertainties.

Armani Ferrante: Thank you, the future belongs to builders.

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