Backpack US appointed Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital and early Solana backer, to its board of directors on Sept. 2, 2026. The move underscores Backpack's pivot toward institutional-grade tokenized equity infrastructure.
Samani's board seat follows a major personal investment in Backpack in July 2026—his largest single-company allocation to date. He stepped back from active Multicoin roles in February 2026 to pursue the opportunity, signaling conviction in Backpack's regulatory-compliant path to on-chain stock trading.
Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante framed Samani's appointment as critical to the platform's core strategy: operating as a compliance-first brokerage while enabling tokenized equities on Solana. "His expertise in DeFi and regulatory affairs is exactly what we need to scale this model," Ferrante said.
Samani joins a leadership team stacked with regulatory muscle. President of Backpack US Mark Wetjen, appointed in March 2026, formerly served as a Commodity Futures Trading Commission commissioner. This dual expertise—crypto-native operator plus CFTC veteran—creates the infrastructure to bridge traditional finance and on-chain settlement.
Backpack's core offering: real US equities (SpaceX, Micron, SanDisk) trade through regulated channels on a 24/5 schedule. Selected positions then tokenize 1:1 on Solana, enabling 24/7 trading and DeFi composability. Holders retain full equity rights—dividends, corporate actions, voting—distinguishing tokenized shares from synthetic price trackers.
The underlying securities business operates under New York Uniform Commercial Code Article 8, the legal framework governing regulated equity settlement. The tokenized platform entered public beta in mid-2026.
Samani co-founded Multicoin Capital and backed Solana's 2018 seed round. He pioneered the venture-hedge hybrid model for digital asset investing and holds degrees in Finance and Management from NYU Stern. He also chairs Forward Industries, a Solana treasury protocol, and was slated to lead a ~$1 billion Solana Digital Asset Treasury initiative alongside Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto in 2025.
