Backpack Exchange Names Seasoned Banking Executive as Head of Audit

DUBAI, UAE, July 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Backpack Exchange, a fully regulated global cryptocurrency exchange, today announced that it has appointed Laurence King to serve as its Head of Audit, underscoring the exchange’s commitment to transparency and audit integrity across its global operations.

King has nearly 30 years of experience leading audit and risk functions at global financial institutions. Most recently at Citibank, he served as Head of Audit for Citibank in various APAC countries as well as Citibank’s APAC Head of Regulatory Engagement, where he oversaw regulatory audits for Citibank with the Japan Financial Services Agency, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and over a dozen other regulators in the APAC region. Prior to Citibank, he held senior management roles at various financial institutions, including Executive Director of IT Regulatory Risk APAC at Morgan Stanley, Global Head ITGC Audit and APAC Head of IT Audit at Deutsche Bank, as well as APAC Head of IT Risk at JP Morgan Chase. His extensive experience includes overseeing complex audit processes, implementing robust compliance frameworks, and ensuring operational transparency at some of the world’s leading financial institutions.

At Backpack, he will leverage his decades of experience to spearhead the exchange’s efforts to build out a world-class internal audit function and oversee its global audit processes, ensuring that Backpack not only adheres to stringent regulatory requirements across different jurisdictions, but also enhances its transparency to users and raises the bar for new audit standards in the industry.

Armani Ferrante, CEO of Backpack Exchange, said, “As we have seen in the past few years, inadequate internal controls at centralized crypto exchanges have resulted in significant failures, holding back our industry from gaining user trust and going mainstream. At Backpack, our mission is to build a crypto exchange that sets new standards for transparency, auditability, and accountability. Laurence’s appointment demonstrates that we’re committed to moving towards this goal.”

King adds, “I am thrilled to join Backpack at this pivotal moment in its journey. The digital asset space holds tremendous potential, but it has often been marred by a lack of robust audit practices and controls. Despite having only launched in November 2023, Backpack has already demonstrated a strong commitment to compliance and accountability, and I am excited to spearhead its efforts to build out our global audit and compliance frameworks, and help enhance integrity and transparency in the cryptocurrency industry.”

About Backpack Exchange

Backpack Exchange is a fully regulated global cryptocurrency exchange innovating to build an innovative, easy-to-use and compliant trading platform for both experienced and new web3 users worldwide. For more information, visit backpack.exchange.

The Backpack ecosystem comprises several products and services, including the popular Backpack Wallet (noncustodial), Backpack Exchange, a fully regulated global cryptocurrency exchange with industry-leading speed, security and functionalities, and Mad Lads, currently the top NFT community in the Solana ecosystem. Backpack is also the creator and developer of Anchor, the Solana smart contract framework, the executable NFT (xNFT) token standard, and more.

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