Solana-linked startup survives $14.5 million FTX ‘punch in the gut’ to get to beta
Quick Take
- FTX Ventures co-led Coral’s $20 million fundraise just weeks before the exchange’s collapse, forcing the web3 team to cut costs to survive.
Episode 38 of Season 5 of The Scoop was recorded with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Coral co-founder Armani Ferrante.
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Web3 development team Coral raised $20 million in a round co-led by FTX Ventures just weeks before the exchange's collapse. Coral developers hunkered down and continued building.
In this episode, Coral co-founder Armani Ferrante tells the story of how the fallout from FTX forced Coral into "cockroach mode"' and how the startup has managed to stay afloat despite being forced to cut costs.
Backpack & xNFTs
Coral's first product, Backpack, is a web3 wallet that lets users store and access xNFTs — a new standard developed for tokenizing code and controlling its execution. In practice, Armani says Backpack and xNFTs give users direct access to a "secure, heavily curated app store."
Unlike popular browser extensions such as Metamask which interact with web3 platforms by connecting to each website individually, Backpack is designed so that users never have to leave the curated web3 experiences that live directly within the wallet.
During this episode, Chaparro and Ferrante also discuss:
- The Donald Trump, Starbucks, and Nike NFT collections
- Why NFT projects depend on community
- How Coral's Backpack product supports 'xNFTs'
This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Circle and CleanSpark.
About Circle
Circle is a global financial technology company helping money move at internet speed. Our mission is to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value. Visit circle.com/Scoop to learn more.
About CleanSpark
CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK) is America’s Bitcoin Miner™. Visit cleanspark.com/theblock to learn more about the CleanSpark way.
© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
