Backpack exchange founder Armani Ferrante recently took to social media to respond directly to four major community FUDs regarding OTC cashing out, the treatment difference for Mad Lads NFT, the witch hunt controversy, and FDV concerns. He denied the cashing out allegations and admitted that the overly simplified execution of the witch hunt was a mistake by the team.
(Background: The Chinese team clashed with Europe and America last night! Backpack’s anti-witch hunt affects a large number of Chinese-speaking users, with the official launch of complaints + buyback compensation)
(Background: How will gambling and prediction markets destroy the world? The darker side is yet to come)
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- Refuting OTC cashing out: fake news
- Mad Lads NFT and witch hunt controversy
- FDV and tokenomics design
On-chain exchange Backpack’s token BP has seen ongoing FUD around multiple issues since its TGE on March 23. Founder Armani Ferrante recently took to social media to respond to the four controversies one by one, with a direct tone, but readers should note that this is a unilateral public statement from the founder.
On FUD.
FUD is an opportunity to either address misunderstandings or to identify mistakes and simply fix them. With every TGE, emotions run hot, as people focus on a single number, the token price, determining one’s feelings. It’s human nature, and because Backpack has such a…
— Armani Ferrante (@armaniferrante) March 27, 2026
Refuting OTC cashing out: fake news
Regarding the widely circulated OTC cashing out allegations, Armani Ferrante took a strong stance, stating that these claims are fake news.
He explained that the reality is that a buyer proactively contacted him, hoping to obtain more tokens through OTC, and he and the team facilitated this transaction; the seller was the buyer, not him liquidating his own holdings.
He also admitted that this misunderstanding has its origins. In the past, other projects have indeed allowed insiders to cash out via OTC, and the community has a historical burden regarding similar operations, making it easy to draw parallels.
Previously, Backpack’s official announcement stated that the founder, senior executives, team members, and VCs did not receive direct token allocations during the TGE, with team allocations locked for at least a year.
Mad Lads NFT and witch hunt controversy
The dissatisfaction within the Mad Lads NFT community is centered on the retention of Backpack VIP status for long-term holders before the TGE, while new holders who bought in after the TGE do not enjoy this qualification.
Armani Ferrante stated that the development path of Mad Lads has been tied to Backpack from the beginning, with each stage focused on long-term holders. He acknowledged that later investors might have different perceptions and expectations regarding the positioning of the NFT, and this gap causing friction is understandable, but the team does not intend to change its commitments to long-term supporters to appease new buyers.
Regarding the witch hunt, this is the area where Armani Ferrante did not respond as firmly among the four controversies. He said that the anti-witch stance aims to protect retail users from gaining unfair advantages through split accounts. However, he admitted that the execution of the anti-witch measures was overly simplified and did not fully consider the complexity of the community structure, which is a mistake by the team.
According to an earlier official announcement, this witch investigation identified and recovered over 50 million “fake points,” with subsequent appeals now open. Users with three accounts or fewer may reclaim over 50% of their tokens after review; Backpack also plans to buy back tokens in the secondary market to compensate affected eligible users.
FDV and tokenomics design
In response to concerns about the FDV (Fully Diluted Valuation) being too high after the TGE, Armani Ferrante’s reply was that BP’s short-term price or FDV does not matter at all.
He explained that the design of the tokenomics is to incentivize the team to build long-term in an “extreme way.” If the token goes to zero and the company fails, the team gets nothing. The team’s rewards come solely from real long-term success, unrelated to short-term price fluctuations.
The BP token was launched on March 23 with a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with 25% (250 million tokens) released at TGE, of which 240 million were allocated to point holders and 10 million to Mad Lads NFT holders.
As mentioned, the above is Armani Ferrante’s public response; whether the content is accurate remains to be seen by the community.
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