Crypto firm collecting FTX alumni is also hiring from high frequency trading

Employees of FTX have had a tough time in the job market following its collapse, but there are firms that still appreciate them. One has been steadily accruing FTX alums, but its most recent senior hire comes from the world of high frequency trading.

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Suraj Pratap has joined Dubai-based crypto exchange Backpack as its head of information security from Tower Research Capital. He spent the last two years at the HFT firm in Singapore, heading its global security engineering team. Pratap doesn't seem to be swapping Singapore for Dubai, however, as his new role in fintech is remote.

Backpack's founders have some pretty close links to Sam Bankman-Fried. Can Sun was FTX's legal counsel and testified against the Jane Street alum in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement. Armani Ferrante was a software engineer at SBF's hedge fund Alameda Research, while Tristan Yver was head of strategy at FTX US. 

Backpack appears to have grown its headcount from 8 to 35+ since the start of 2024, and added a few FTX people in the process. Fabrizio Checchettini, formerly head of operations at FTX US, joined in May. Yetta Ng joined in London as a compliance analyst in February after spending a year at FTX. Its most senior non-FTX hire was Oliver Sleafer who was made CFO in March after joining a few months earlier. He spent two years as APAC head of liquidity management at Stripe, and spent 15 years before that working across Credit Suisse and UBS.

Joining a firm with such strong FTX presence may stir up some fears, but the exchange has focused on adding features that would prevent another FTX happening. The firm currently has nine open job listings, eight in engineering, all remote.

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