Cryptocurrency exchange Backpack said it is adding SEC-registered US stocks to its trading platform with Superstate, the blockchain finance startup led by Compound founder Robert Leshner.
Announced Wednesday, the deal integrates Superstate’s Opening Bell platform into Backpack, allowing non-US users to trade tokenized shares of public companies online.
With this addition, Backpack claimed the bragging rights of being the first centralized crypto exchange to list issuer-backed and SEC-registered stocks natively on-chain. The supported actions and deployment date will be announced in the coming weeks, the companies said.
These offerings are not synthetic or wrapped derivatives, the companies said, but actual shares issued under the U.S. Securities Act with the same CUSIP identifiers as their traditional Nasdaq or NYSE counterparts.
“For traders, this means more assets to buy, sell and use as collateral – with better margin opportunities than traditional markets,” Robert Leshner said in a statement. “For issuers, this extends reach to millions of crypto-native investors, connecting them directly to modern capital markets infrastructure.”
The move comes as the tokenization of financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds and funds, gains momentum in crypto markets. A wide range of tokenized stock offerings have debuted in recent months, including Robinhood, Gemini, Global Markets from Ondo Finance and xStocks from Kraken and Backed Finance, creating tokenized versions of the largest publicly traded companies and ETFs.
Superstate’s Opening Bell focuses on creating tokenized versions of publicly traded stocks by working through a registered transfer agent. The platform brings the US capital markets structure on blockchain rails, providing direct ownership and future access to DeFi tools.
Backpack was founded by crypto developer Armani Ferrante and is best known for its role in the Solana ecosystem and for acquiring the European arm of imploded crypto exchange FTX. It has since grown into a broader financial platform. It launched a centralized exchange in 2023 with a virtual asset service provider license in Dubai, while it opened its EU-focused derivatives platform last month, based in Cyprus and regulated under MiFID II.
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