Several former FTX executives have teamed up to assist build a new cryptocurrency exchange in Dubai with a particular give attention to what FTX failed to do — safe buyer funds.
Ex-FTX lawyer Can Sun is main the best way with Trek Labs, a Dubai-based startup that received a license to supply cryptocurrency providers within the area in late October. Backpack Exchange is the identify beneath which Trek Labs will supply these providers.
Sun will obtain help from ex-FTX worker, Armani Ferrante, who serves as CEO of Trek’s holding firm within the British Virgin Islands, according to a Nov. 11 report by the Wall Street Journal. Ferrante additionally runs Backpack, a cryptocurrency pockets which is built-in in Backpack Exchange.
Sun’s former authorized deputy at FTX, Claire Zhang, who can be Ferrante’s spouse, can be on Trek’s govt team. However, as soon as Trek raises an funding spherical, Zhang plans to transition out of the corporate as she has been working with out pay to “assist bootstrap the exchange,” WSJ stated.
Sun and Ferrante iterated they needed to use the teachings realized from FTX’s failure to defend buyer funds. Backpack’s know-how presents a self-custody answer which integrates a multiparty computation (MPC) method to guarantee funds stay safe. MPC sometimes entails a number of events approving a transaction earlier than funds are moved.
With issues heating up, please pay attention to phishing assaults on the rise.
Backpack will NEVER ask you to your non-public keys.
The solely legitimate web site URLs are in our bio. Assume anything is a rip-off.
Stay protected.
— Backpack (@xNFT_Backpack) November 11, 2023
It may even allow Backpack prospects to confirm funds at any time when they need, Sun instructed WSJ:
“In a post-FTX world, you need trust and transparency to create a true alternative to the other players.”
Backpack Exchange is at present in beta and a wider launch will come later this month, the agency stated.
Sun was a witness at Bankman-Fried’s latest fraud trial the place he revealed that the previous FTX CEO turned to him in search of a authorized justification as to why FTX’s funds have been at Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven fraud-related charges.
Related: How long could Sam Bankman-Fried go to jail for? Crypto lawyers weigh in
Sun stated he give up as FTX’s basic counsel the day after Bankman-Fried instructed him about the usage of buyer cash.
“This went against everything that I stood for and was represented to me by Sam.”
Bankman-Fried’s former empire commingled billions of dollars of buyer funds by means of Alameda Research for funding functions. About $9 billion in buyer funds went lacking.
Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?
