The Solana-based Backpack crypto exchange reached the $300 million mark in less than 24 hours after the beginning of its pre-season beta launch, according to a Feb. 15 X post by Backpack. The exchange was launched by the creators of Solana’s Mad Lads executable nonfungible token (NFT) collection.
24 hours into the Backpack Pre Season.
— Backpack (@Backpack) February 14, 2024
Over $300 MILION in trading volume.
It has begun.
The popularity of the exchange is partly due to the Backpack ecosystem’s record-breaking Mad Lads xNFT collection and the potential of its underlying Solana blockchain, according to Anndy Lian, intergovernmental blockchain expert and author of the book NFT: From Zero to Hero. He told Cointelegraph:
“Backpack Exchange leverages the Solana blockchain, one of the fastest and most scalable platforms for decentralized applications […] Solana is also seen as a potential contender for the future of decentralized finance, or DeFi, which is a fast-growing sector of the crypto industry.”
Backpack registered 6,000 unique deposit transactions within 24 hours of its pre-season launch, according to a Feb. 13 X post by Armani Ferrante, the founder and CEO of Backpack.
The newly-launched exchange boasts impressive trading metrics, including one-millisecond order placement and sub-one millisecond order cancelation, according to Ferrante.
Backpack’s SOL/USDC spot trading pair reached over $643 million in 24-hour trading volume, overtaking the world’s largest exchange, Binance’s trading pair, which generated $2.4 million in 24-hour trading volume.
Backpack Exchange received a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in October 2023. The exchange bagged many other operational licenses across several jurisdictions worldwide in the last half of 2023.
Mad Lads become third-largest NFTs by daily volume
Following Backpack’s success, the 24-hour trading volume of Mad Lads NFTs rose 77.93% to over $1 million, becoming the third-largest collection by daily trading volume across all blockchain networks.
Solana’s sales volume rose 20.19% to $7.35 million, becoming the second-largest blockchain by daily NFT sales volume after Ethereum, which generated $18.28 million in 24-hour NFT sales volume, according to NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam.
Related: Solana’s market cap overtakes BNB, secures 4th position