Mad Lads Solana NFTs Gain After Parent Firm Backpack Acquires FTX Europe

The starting price of NFTs in the prominent Solana collection Mad Lads jumped 19% earlier Tuesday, with the spike coming following news that parent company Backpack acquired the remains of FTX Europe and the collapsed firm’s MiFID II exchange license.

Mad Lads briefly held a floor price—aka the cheapest asset listing on the marketplace—of almost $18,300 worth of SOL early Tuesday, though the price has fallen to $16,240 as of this writing following a sharp correction across the entire market.

The price increase may come from speculators hoping for benefits tied to Backpack’s acquisition, which will allow the Backpack exchange to offer perpetuals trading to European users after prioritizing the return of funds to FTX Europe users.

While no direct benefits for Mad Lads holders have been announced, project CEO Armani Ferrante shared a timely reminder late last night, only hours before the acquisition announcement. 

“Reminder that if you hold a Mad Lad, you automatically get VIP 1 on Backpack Exchange,” he posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). 

The reminder came as a response to the company’s teaser about an upcoming season of trading, a period of time in which trading volumes on its existing exchange products may lead to additional benefits. Previous seasons have rewarded users of Backpack’s exchange with access to airdrops, a benefit known well to Mad Lads NFT holders which received airdrops from Wormhole and Dymension among others.

Mad Lads has garnered more than $1.8 million in secondary trading in the last 24 hours, making it the second-most-traded NFT collection across blockchains according to CryptoSlam—only trailing Ethereum’s Pudgy Penguins. 

Its price jump extends gains from the last month, in which it has increased in value by nearly 73%, charging back to levels not held since April 2024 according to NFT Price Floor. The collection reached an all-time high of $29,420 just one month prior in March 2024, but as of this writing remains more than 100 SOL off its crypto-denominated high of 192 SOL.  

Launched in April 2023, Mad Lads earned acclaim for its clever scheming that resulted in bots spending more than $250,000 on a fake mint, protecting real consumers trying to get the NFTs.

Consisting of nearly 10,000 profile picture NFTs, Mad Lads is the second-most-traded Solana NFT collection of all-time according to CryptoSlam. 

Backpack first announced its intention to roll out a centralized crypto exchange in October 2023. The company also operates a self-custody wallet that supports multiple blockchains, including Solana and Ethereum.

Edited by Andrew Hayward