WeChat for crypto: an interview with Backpack co-founder Tristan Yver

The ‘renaissance’ of the Solana began at the end of 2023 and is still ongoing. More and more projects are appearing in the ecosystem, some of which offer an innovative approach to products already familiar to the cryptocurrency industry.

One such project is Backpack, whose structure includes a non-custodial wallet, a centralized exchange, and a collection of non-exchangeable tokens using the new xNFT standard.

The Incrypted spoke with Backpack co-founder Tristan Yver. We talked about the development of the company, the specifics of raising funding in the crypto industry, the impact of the FTX crash on the business, and the potential launch of the token.

Today we are going to talk a little bit about your background, about Backpack, about your future plans and maybe a little bit about the crypto industry in general. Can you tell us how you got into the cryptocurrency and blockchain space?

In early 2020, I began working in crypto for the first time. I had been involved in crypto as a retail participant since early 2017 when I first found out about it. I really just loved the industry from the start.

I had been a big gamer for a long time. I had played games like RuneScape, and crypto felt very similar to those games that I had played growing up.

So, I joined in 2017 as retail, and then in 2020, I joined the industry working at an exchange. During that time, it was really great to learn a lot about the different pieces of the industry. As you can imagine, the exchange sort of sits at the center of everything that is happening. People tend to come in from every different part of crypto, and you learn a lot about the industry in general.

In early 2020, I started working on the Solana ecosystem. I was doing a lot of business