Joining Backpack
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined Backpack to lead mobile engineering 🎉
I recently stepped down as Draftbit’s CTO and have been taking a break exploring what my journey will look like. Today, I’m excited & humbled by the opportunity I’ve been given to work with a world-class team on Backpack.
For those who may not be familiar, Backpack is a portal into web3: one-stop shop for all your DeFi apps, NFTs, games and much more.
It’s no secret that the crypto world today is ridden with landmines. DeFi projects are constantly getting hacked or fake phishing sites are put up to confuse people. It can make sleeping at night quite difficult. I’ve been watching the space since 2014. It was about time to get involved. I knew that whatever I was going to work on, I needed to make sure it made life better for the every day person, not worse.
That’s where Backpack comes in. The driving feature behind Backpack is an xNFT. So, wtf is an xNFT?
What’s an xNFT?
According to Armani, the creator, X stands for eXecutable: tokenized code representing ownership rights over its execution. In layman’s terms: instead of pointing a regular old NFT at a jpeg on S3, you can point it at some javascript and create an entirely new world.
xNFTs will create an ecosystem of decentralized apps using protocol-agnostic frameworks that work across your all favorite chains including Ethereum, Solana & many more. The interface for all this is Backpack. Today, you can think of Backpack as a wallet but tomorrow, it will be so much more than that.
Backpack is launching with an app store that includes anything from games like Flappy Bird to NFT marketplaces & even developer tooling. These apps are all verified on chain. On-chain verification means the code you ship is the code your users will see. There’s no way nefarious actors will be able to bait & switch code or create fake URLs that look like a real project. This is one of the many efforts to create a safe and fun way to interact with a web3 world.
We already have some incredible xNFTs in our ecosystem:
Double Diffusion is Stable Diffusion powered by Solana. You have the ability to generate and mint anything and pay a low fee of 0.0025 (about 3 cents) per query. This gives the power back to the creator.
An engineer’s favorite, you slide numbered tiles on a grid to combine them to create the number 2048. A fun & free game.
Releap is a music NFT platform. This allows you to listen to your music NFTs anytime, anywhere
Solend is a DeFi protocol for lending and borrowing on the Solana blockchain. Think Aave or Compound on Solana. Solend allows anyone with an internet connection to earn interest by lending their crypto assets, and allows them to use their deposits as collateral for borrowing.
Building a better ecosystem for the every day person
Today, blockchain is something you need to understand to use correctly. Tomorrow, users won’t have to worry about which chain they’re using, how they need to transfer funds and whether the site they’re using is real. You don’t need to know how the internet works to use Facebook or Netflix. With Backpack, we’ll bring that same level of harmony to web3.
Backpack is built by a world-class team. I’ve quickly realized I’m working with some of the most talented & smartest people in the world. Quite frankly, I’ve had a bit of imposter syndrome. I’m excited to learn, contribute to making Backpack the best portal and ecosystem in the world.
Lastly, why am I so excited about mobile? You’re probably reading this on your phone. Expect to interact with web3, blockchains & crypto the same way. I’m bullish on a safe & secure mobile wallet experience.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with such a talented and smart team at Backpack. I can’t wait to learn from them and contribute to building the best portal and ecosystem for web3. And as a mobile enthusiast, I’m especially excited to help create a safe and secure mobile wallet experience for our users.
There’s a lot of work to be done, but I’m ready for the journey ahead!
WAO, Peter P.S. WAO = We Are One
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