news 
Backpack Exchange, a company founded by former employees of bankrupt exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, has acquired FTX’s European entity, FTX EU, for $32.7 million. As part of the deal, Backpack has committed to refunding approximately €53 million ($55 million) in court-approved bankruptcy claims to affected customers.
The acquisition, which has been approved by both the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and the FTX bankruptcy court, gives Backpack control of FTX EU’s coveted MiFID II license. This will enable the company to offer regulated crypto derivatives trading, including perpetual futures contracts, to clients across the European Union.
According to CEO Armani Ferrante, a prominent Solana blockchain developer, Backpack aims to relaunch its European operations in the first quarter of 2025 and establish itself as the sole provider of perpetual futures and other crypto derivatives products in Europe. The company will focus on returning all customer funds before expanding its product offerings.
FTX EU, formerly known as Digital Assets AG, had been under suspension by Cyprus regulators since FTX’s collapse in late 2022. Despite being restricted from providing services, the entity has continued to process transactions and return client funds.
Backpack Exchange initially launched in 2022 with a non-custodial crypto wallet called Backpack Wallet, before expanding into a full-fledged trading platform.
In other related news, Nasdaq’s ISE options exchange has proposed increasing the position and exercise limits for options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) by a factor of ten. The proposal seeks to raise the limit from 25,000 to 250,000 contracts, citing the growing trading volume and liquidity of IBIT.
ISE justified the increase by highlighting that even with the higher limit, IBIT options would only represent 2.89% of outstanding shares. This is significantly more conservative than other ETFs like SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) at 8.17% and iShares Silver Trust (SLV) at 4.8%.
Source: blockonomi.com
