Original author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
On July 3, the Solana ecological exchange Backpack suffered a major failure due to system maintenance errors, resulting in disordered user orders, loss of position data, and unexpected losses for some traders. On this day, the second season of Backpacks points activity was officially launched, but it encountered this major technical failure within a few hours. Was it the crazy influx of traffic or other reasons? This incident also questioned Backpacks technical capabilities, and put countless users who came for its high-expectation airdrop into a dilemma: should they continue to pursue potential token rewards, or quickly withdraw to avoid risks?
From routine maintenance to system disasters
At 5:35 pm on July 3, Backpack officially announced that it would conduct routine system maintenance at 6 pm, and the service was expected to be interrupted for several hours. The incident happened suddenly, and some users were caught off guard, but they also chose to wait patiently for the maintenance to officially end. However, after the maintenance ended, the platform did not return to normal as expected, but instead fell into a technical disaster.
A considerable number of users had their orders messed up, were forced to open long and short orders, had their position records disappear, and some even owed the exchange hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Backpack then issued an urgent statement saying, All users holding positions today will receive double points as rewards. For users who suffer unexpected losses during the maintenance period, please send an email to Backpacks official email address. We will make compensation after investigation and confirmation.
Some people speculated that the failure may be caused by a database rollback error or the loss of backup data. Although Backpack has not yet disclosed the specific technical details, this error clearly exposed its inability to match its technical management capabilities during rapid expansion.
At the same time, various technical errors of the Backpack system were circulated on social media, and some community users complained on social media.
A community user posted a screenshot saying that he owed BackPack about $740,000. Another user posted a video complaining about a loss of more than $200,000.
Some community users achieved VIP 2 achievement by increasing transaction volume, but were directly rolled back to VIP 1.
All the positions on the platform are in chaos. My account has been inexplicably doubled in short orders, resulting in a loss of thousands of dollars. I am unable to close my positions and can only wait!
Ive lost $200,000 on my backpack. I dont dare tell my wife. Im so scared. What should I do?
User pain: the collision of economic losses and airdrop craze
Backpack is a crypto platform founded in 2022 by former FTX executive Armani Ferrante. It integrates wallets, exchanges, and NFT ecosystems, and has rapidly risen based on the low cost and high performance of the Solana ecosystem. Its exchange is known for its low fees and high liquidity. In May this year, according to official data, the platforms custodial assets had reached $200 million. However, this accident cast a shadow on Backpacks halo.
For many users, this failure was not only a technical problem, but also a loss of real money. One user complained: My positions are gone, and I cant find my transaction records. I missed a 1,300% increase in a certain currency!
Another user said that because he was unable to close his position in time, his account lost thousands of dollars in market fluctuations. During the outage, some users were even unable to transfer their assets to other wallets, such as Phantom or Solflare, further exacerbating the panic.
However, a considerable number of Backpack’s users are “money-grabbing parties” who come for its highly anticipated airdrops. Since Backpack launched a volume-based points system in February 2024, market expectations for its token airdrops have continued to heat up.
The official announcement: From 7:00 am on February 14th, Beijing time, the account transaction volume points system will be launched, and the ranking of the points system will serve as an important reference data for future large-scale marketing activities (such as airdrop qualifications or coin listing projects Launch Pool, etc.). This hint was widely interpreted as a prelude to token airdrops, attracting a large number of traders to the platform, accumulating points through high-frequency trading in order to win a higher share of airdrops. Its popularity index has begun to soar.
According to Coingecko data, Backpacks points mechanism is directly linked to trading volume. If the trading volume exceeds $5,000, you will be eligible for airdrops. The higher the accumulated trading volume, the greater the potential rewards. There is even a rumor in the community that Backpack airdrops may be worth thousands of dollars.
The outage put these fleecing users in a dilemma: on the one hand, the losses caused by the accident and the instability of the system made them lose confidence in the platform; on the other hand, the huge temptation of airdrops made them unwilling to give up easily. User @YourAirdropETH lamented: I just recommended Backpack to my friends and it crashed. It has been down for so long. This happened at the beginning of the second quarter. No matter how good the airdrop is, the system must be stabilized first!
Behind the airdrop craze: Backpack’s ambitions and risks
Backpacks airdrop expectations are not groundless. As a star project in the Solana ecosystem, its ecological layout covers wallets, exchanges, and the Mad Lads NFT series, showing a strong product matrix. Mad Lads NFT ranks among the top in the Solana ecosystem, with a floor price of up to 200 SOL, which has attracted a lot of community attention to Backpack. In addition, Backpack has also launched xNFT (executable NFT) and Anchor (Solana smart contract framework), further consolidating its technical influence.
In September 2022, Backpack completed a $20 million round led by FTX Venture and Jump Crypto, with participation from Multicoin and others. In February 2024, Backpack completed a $17 million Series A round of financing, with a valuation of hundreds of millions of dollars, and investors included Placeholder VC and Delphi Digital. Its founder, Armani Ferrante, previously graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a software engineer at Oasis Labs and Apple.
Industry insiders believe that Backpack is trying to become Binance on Solana, incentivizing user activity through airdrops and rapidly expanding market share.
In April 2025, the first season of Backpack Exchanges points activity ran for four weeks, with a total spot and contract trading volume of US$3.2 billion, an open interest of US$131 million, a record high, and 35,500 independent trading users.
However, high-expectation airdrops also bring side effects. Most airdropped tokens plummeted within 15 days of listing. Over-reliance on points to increase volume may cause users to buy and sell immediately, which puts pressure on token prices. Although Backpacks points system stimulates trading volume, it also attracts a large number of speculators, which may challenge the long-term healthy development of its ecosystem. In addition, if the airdrop results are far from the communitys expectations, Backpack may fall into a public opinion crisis.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Backpack has had technical problems. In April 2024, a Reddit user reported a wallet transaction error in the r/solana community, which required re-importing to another wallet to operate. This accident further amplified users concerns about the stability of the platform, especially in the context of airdrop expectations pushing up user activity, any technical errors could lead to a crisis of trust.
Conclusion
The Backpack failure incident is not only a technical crisis, but also a test of the operational capabilities of the Web3 platform. In the Solana ecosystem, Backpack faces fierce competition from wallets such as Phantom and Solflare and DEXs such as Raydium and Orca. Some users even bluntly stated that it has significant problems such as poor depth and poor experience.
For users chasing airdrops, this incident is a wake-up call. In the short term, Backpack needs to regain user trust through quick compensation and system upgrades. In the long term, the success of its airdrop strategy depends on the sustainable development of the token economic design and ecology.
The Backpack failure incident is like a mirror, reflecting the dual challenges of Web3 platforms in technology and trust. For users, the craze of chasing airdrops brings opportunities, but also comes with risks. Whether you are a fleecing party or a long-term investor, you need to remain rational in the face of the temptation of high returns and examine the reliability of the platform and your own risk tolerance.
