Backpack said it is adding SEC-registered U.S. stocks to its trading platform with Superstate, the blockchain financial startup led by Compound founder Robert Leshner.
Announced on Wednesday, the deal integrates Superstate’s Opening Bell platform into Backpack, allowing non-U.S. users to trade tokenized shares of public companies on-chain.
With the 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 shares backed and the launch date will be announced in the coming weeks, the companies said.
These offerings are not synthetic or wrapped derivative products, the companies said, but rather real shares issued under U.S. securities law with the same CUSIP identifiers as their traditional counterparts on Nasdaq or NYSE.
“For traders, that 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, it expands 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, is gaining momentum in crypto markets. A wide range of tokenized stock offerings have debuted in recent months, including Robinhood, Gemini, Ondo Finance’s Global Markets, and Kraken and Backed Finance’s xStocks, creating tokenized versions of the largest publicly traded companies and ETFs.
Superstate’s Opening Bell focuses on creating tokenized versions of publicly traded stocks working through a registered transfer agent. The platform brings the structure of the US capital markets to the blockchain rails, offering direct ownership and future access to DeFi tools.
Backpack was founded by cryptocurrency developer Armani Ferrante and is best known for its role in the Solana ecosystem and for acquiring the European branch of the imploded cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Since then, it has grown into a broader financial platform. It launched a centralized exchange in 2023 with a virtual asset service provider license in Dubai, while last month it opened its EU-focused derivatives center based in Cyprus and regulated under the MiFID II framework.
Read more: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink eyes bigger role in tokenization
