[Backpack Founder Comments on the Current State of Neo Finance: Stripping Traditional Financial Services, Charging Tedious Fees Without Protecting Investor Interests] BlockBeats News, January 17 – Backpack founder and CEO Armani Ferrante posted on social media, stating that many projects claiming to be the 'next generation of internet finance' are, in reality, products with severely stripped-down functionality, degraded user experience, higher fees, and worse protection. Some tokens are essentially stocks but lack dividends, voting rights, or Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) insurance. Some projects are essentially banks but do not support direct deposits, issuing checks, processing payroll, or transferring funds to accounts under other names. While charging investors layer upon layer of fees, they provide no investor protection and even publicly disclose personal data to the world.