Backpack US appointed Multicoin Capital cofounder Kyle Samani to its board of directors on Sept. 2 as the company expands its regulated financial services in the United States.
Summary
- Backpack US appointed Multicoin Capital cofounder Kyle Samani to its board of directors on Wednesday.
- Samani stepped back from Multicoin in February while retaining an advisory relationship with the firm.
- He remains chairman of Forward Industries, a publicly traded company pursuing a Solana treasury strategy.
- Backpack says the appointment will support its expansion across regulated U.S. and onchain financial markets.
- Backpack reports serving users across 150 countries and processing more than $450 billion in volume.
Samani is an early Solana investor and a longtime supporter of blockchain based capital markets. He stepped back from managing Multicoin Capital in February 2026 but retained an advisory relationship with the venture firm.
The appointment gives Samani a governance role at Backpack US rather than an executive position. Backpack did not disclose his term, compensation, committee assignments or specific responsibilities.
Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante said Samani’s experience with decentralized networks and crypto regulation made him a suitable adviser. Ferrante said Samani understands the company’s plan to connect traditional financial markets with blockchain infrastructure.
Samani brings Solana and venture capital experience
Samani cofounded Multicoin Capital in 2017 and helped establish the firm as an early institutional investor in Solana. Multicoin has also backed projects focused on decentralized finance, blockchain infrastructure and crypto trading.
Samani announced his departure from Multicoin’s daily management in February. He said he planned to explore other areas of technology while continuing to advise the firm.
He also remains chairman of Forward Industries, a publicly traded company pursuing a Solana treasury strategy. Forward adopted the strategy after completing a $1.65 billion private placement led by Multicoin, Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto in 2025.
The strategy is designed to increase the company’s exposure to SOL and expand its SOL holdings per share. Those objectives are corporate targets rather than guaranteed results.
Samani’s Forward Industries position gives him experience overseeing a public company with a digital asset treasury. It also connects him closely to the Solana ecosystem, which remains central to several Backpack products.
Backpack did not explain how it would address potential conflicts involving Samani’s roles at Forward and Multicoin. The company also did not disclose whether he would be excluded from decisions involving Multicoin portfolio companies.
Backpack US focuses on regulated financial products
Backpack describes itself as a financial services group connecting crypto markets with traditional finance. Its products include a crypto exchange, a self custody wallet and Backpack Securities.
The company says Backpack Securities combines a regulated brokerage with a tokenization platform. Its stated objective is to provide access to conventional securities and blockchain based asset distribution within one product environment.
Backpack did not identify the U.S. licenses held by each group entity in its appointment announcement. It also did not provide registration numbers or explain which entity would handle brokerage, custody, tokenization and trade execution.
Companies providing securities brokerage services in the United States generally must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and become members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority unless an exemption applies. Specific registrations should therefore be confirmed against official regulatory records as Backpack expands its services.
The company has already followed a regulated expansion strategy in Europe. Backpack acquired FTX EU and assumed responsibility for returning funds to eligible former customers. The company later addressed questions surrounding its purchase of FTX EU.
Backpack subsequently launched its European exchange through a Cyprus based entity operating under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive framework. That expansion gave the company a regulated route for offering crypto derivatives to eligible European customers.
Equity trading supports Backpack’s broader strategy
Backpack said Samani’s appointment followed the launch of continuous trading for several equity products. It named SpaceX, Micron, SanDisk and SK Hynix among the assets available through its services.
The company described its offering as trading in “real” equities alongside a growing range of tokenized stocks. However, the announcement did not provide a complete explanation of the execution venues, custody structure, settlement system or shareholder rights attached to each product.
Those distinctions matter because traditional shares, tokenized shares and price tracking instruments do not always provide identical rights. Depending on the structure, investors may not receive direct voting rights, dividend claims or ownership of the underlying security.
Other crypto platforms are developing similar services. Kraken recently introduced more than 7,000 traditional U.S. stocks for eligible European customers alongside its tokenized xStocks products.
Kraken has also allowed eligible traders to use certain tokenized stocks as collateral for futures and margin positions. The development reflects growing competition among crypto companies seeking to combine securities exposure with blockchain based trading systems.
Samani said the future of capital markets involves combining “institutional risk controls with onchain efficiency and transparency.” His comment represents his assessment of the market’s direction, not a confirmed outcome for Backpack’s products.
Board appointments support Backpack’s U.S. expansion
Samani joins a board that also includes former acting SEC chairman Michael Piwowar, whom Backpack appointed earlier in 2026. The appointments add venture capital, public company and securities regulation experience to Backpack’s governance structure.
Backpack said its leadership additions would support the creation of regulated infrastructure connecting traditional and digital assets. It has not announced new product approvals or regulatory licenses resulting from Samani’s appointment.
The company reports serving customers in more than 150 countries and regions and processing over $450 billion in trading volume. These figures come from Backpack and were not accompanied by an independently audited breakdown in the board announcement.
Backpack has not provided a fixed schedule for expanding its U.S. equity or tokenized asset services. It also has not disclosed whether Samani’s appointment is connected to a specific product launch, acquisition or licensing application.
The next relevant updates will involve Backpack’s U.S. registrations, customer eligibility rules and product structure. Further disclosures may clarify which entities handle securities execution, custody and token issuance.
Until then, the appointment represents a governance step supporting Backpack’s stated U.S. strategy. It does not by itself confirm regulatory clearance for additional securities or tokenized asset products.
