cyberdoor.sol/.eth

A member of the @Backpack Chinese community sent me this today. > Since Season 1, expectations weren’t initially very high. Many believed the campaign would last for three seasons, so people didn’t FOMO too hard. However, as Season 2 approaches, we’re seeing growing FOMO sentiments on Twitter and across communities....Traffic and hype are necessary—but if they go too far, things can spiral out of control. As an old Chinese saying goes: Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. It appears there's a growing swell of newfound interest in Backpack Season 2. So it's about time to reintroduce ourselves to old friends and new. Well, what is Backpack? First, what Backpack is not. Some folks know me from DeFi. I take an enormous amount of inspiration from DeFi, having worked on Serum, the first onchain CLOB back when FTX was still a thing. And indeed, Backpack very much looks like it's from DeFi. Nevertheless, Backpack is not DeFi. Backpack is not a DEX. We fancy ourselves as building the most transparent CEX, ever. We are far from that goal, but it is indeed our goal. Backpack is a globally regulated, onchain financial institution--and this has a lot of enormous implications for how we move as a product, as a company, and as a community. As we've seen in the past, the faster centralized exchanges rise, the faster they fall. From the beginning, we've tried to do things right. Whether it's the decision to work with regulators around the world, the decision to build real time proof of reserves (almost live), the decision to hire a full accounting team and work with a big four accounting firm to prepare for audited financial statements, the decision to build a full compliance org not just in one country and one language, but in many countries and many languages all around the world. All of this takes an enormous amount of time, energy, and sheer resources that most projects don't worry about (nor would I recommend they worry about any of these things). Centralized exchanges are extraordinarily difficult beasts to build. It's fairly easy to build them by taking short cuts. It's incredibly hard to build them right and to stand the test of time. Many have risen. Many have fallen. And this is the mountain we're climbing. So what does this mean for the community? If you're looking for a get rich quick TGE--listing pump, and exit. This is not for you. If you try to farm this, sybil this, or take advantage of this. This is not for you. I said this before and during Season 1, I'll say it before and during Season 2, I'll say it many, many times going forward. If you look at Backpack through the lens of a short term farm, you will experience maximum pain and maximum suffering. If you play long term games with long term people, you'll find a home. As a friend of mine once said, you don't need to win in one cycle, you can win after many. It's been about seven years for me in this crazy industry. I've experienced the highest of highest. I've experienced the lowest of lows. This is not just a project. This is our life. For me, the team, and for our community. If this resonates with you, I hope you join us for Season 2. I can't promise you anything other than spending every waking moment and every bit of energy making the best product we can possibly make. We will swing. We will miss. We will hopefully hit some home runs. And we will keep swinging. Day by day. Brick by brick. 🧱