CEO Offers Equity for Staking Tokens – But Who’s Really in Charge?

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Key Highlights

  • Users staking Backpack tokens for at least one year can exchange them for 20% equity in the company. A noble gesture, or just another way to turn users into shareholders of a corporate serpent?
  • Founder & CEO Armani Ferrante emphasizes long-term commitment over speculative token gains. How quaint! A man who once dreamed of changing the world, now peddling equity like a 19th-century merchant hawking samovars.
  • The program combines centralized equity with plans for future decentralized features of the token. A perfect marriage of chaos and control, much like a Soviet commissar juggling bread and propaganda.

Armani Ferrante, the founder & CEO of Backpack and MadLab, announced on X that users who stake Backpack tokens for at least a year will be able to exchange them for a share of the company. In his post, he talked about his experience in crypto and the problems many tokens face with real-world use and value. One wonders if he’s addressing the issues or merely rebranding them as “challenges.”

Reassessing the purpose of crypto

Ferrante began by sharing his long-term perspective on the crypto industry. He emphasized that his involvement was driven by a belief in the transformative potential of cryptocurrency rather than short-term financial gain: “I didn’t come into crypto 9 years ago to launch a shit coin. I didn’t come into crypto to get rich quick.” A noble sentiment-until one realizes he’s now selling equity to users who might as well be signing their souls to a digital ledger.

He said he is concerned about the current state of the crypto market, highlighting centralization and promises that are often not kept as major problems for token holders and users. “We live in the most centralized era crypto has ever experienced,” he declared. How poetic! A man who once dreamed of decentralizing the world now presides over a centralized utopia where users are both masters and serfs.

Token staking converts to equity 

The key announcement from Backpack is the launch of a program in which users who stake their tokens for at least one year can exchange them for 20% equity in the company. Ferrante described this as a unique approach to token utility: “It’s such a simple idea, but as far as I’m aware, this is the first time a user has been able to earn the equity of a company by just using the product.” A simple idea? More like a complex illusion, spun from the same threads as every other crypto promise.

The program is intended to give long-term users a tangible stake in the company, moving beyond the common model of token incentives, which often rely on price speculation or theoretical future utility. One can only imagine the joy of a user who, after a year of staking, discovers they’ve gained ownership of a company that may or may not still exist.

Addressing challenges in crypto token models

Ferrante highlighted the risks inherent in most crypto token models, such as team acquisitions, reinvestment decisions, and investor unlocks. According to him, unless a protocol is fully decentralized, the promises of token utility are often unenforceable. A wise warning-though one might question why he hasn’t yet decentralized his own protocol, or if he’s merely waiting for the right moment to sell it to a centralized entity.

The announcement also mentioned emerging token models, including MetaDAO, which aim to tackle similar challenges. Backpack’s approach was presented as part of a wider movement toward progressive decentralization within the industry. A movement, perhaps, that resembles a slow-moving train-derailed and derailed again, but always moving forward, or so the conductor claims.

Future plans for the Backpack token

Ferrante said the Backpack token will continue to evolve. Some parts of the Backpack token, such as the equity exchange program, will remain under centralized control. Other parts of the token are expected to change as the product grows and more decentralized features are added. A dance of promises, where the music is always playing, but the dancers are never quite sure of the steps.

The company did not give a set timeline for these changes but said they will happen slowly over the coming weeks, months, and years. They said this is meant to keep users involved as the company grows. A masterstroke! Users will be kept engaged, not by innovation, but by the slow, methodical grind of uncertainty.

Commitment to users

Ferrante made it clear that the company’s focus is on maintaining commitment to its users rather than making promises about future returns or the value of the token. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I can’t promise anything. The only thing I can promise is commitment.” A promise so vague, it’s practically a guarantee of failure. Yet users, like fools in a fairytale, will stake their tokens, hoping for a golden goose.

This program is one of the few examples in the cryptocurrency sector where staking tokens can lead directly to company ownership. It provides a tangible way for users to participate beyond traditional staking or incentive models. A tangible way, indeed-though the “tangible” part may be more metaphorical than literal, like a mirage in a desert of speculation.

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2026-02-23 15:54