Backpack announced that Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital and early investor in Solana, has joined the Backpack US board of directors. CEO Armani Ferrante stated that Samani's deep involvement in decentralized networks and long-standing advocacy for clear regulatory frameworks aligns with the company's compliance-first, chain-native, and user-centric strategy.

Samani expressed that the future of global capital markets is not about DeFi versus traditional finance, but rather about combining institutional-level risk control with on-chain efficiency and transparency, and he has been impressed with the team since day one. The company also emphasized the launch of what it claims to be the world's first real U.S. stock trading available 24/7, with underlying assets including SpaceX, Micron, SanDisk, and SK Hynix, and is expanding tokenized stocks and unified margin accounts backed by stocks for perpetual trading.

Public records show that Samani will step down from his management role at Multicoin in February 2026, stating he will explore areas such as artificial intelligence, longevity, and robotics, but remains bullish on crypto, especially Solana, and will continue to invest in and support portfolio projects in a personal capacity. He will remain on the board of the fully homomorphic encryption project Zama and continue as chairman of Forward Industries' board.

When exiting the fund, he plans to request a physical redemption of Multicoin's main fund shares in Forward Industries stock and warrants rather than cash, to increase his personal exposure to the SOL treasury company. Forward completed a private placement of approximately $1.65 billion in September 2025, with participation from Multicoin, Galaxy Digital, and Jump Crypto; by early 2026, it held nearly 6.98 million SOL, almost all of which was staked. At that time, Multicoin managed approximately $6 billion, with day-to-day operations handled by partners such as Tushar Jain and Brian Smith.

The Backpack US board previously included former SEC commissioner and acting chairman Michael S. Piwowar. The company positions this appointment within its strategy for U.S. expansion and bridging traditional and digital asset infrastructures, stating that both parties jointly believe that institutional risk control and on-chain markets will converge.

In market mechanics, the buyer seeks to obtain Solana ecosystem endorsements and tokenized stock trading channels on regulated U.S. entities, while the seller is a former venture capitalist who allocates personal branding and regulatory connections to licensed platforms. The driving force is U.S. compliance expansion and 24-hour stock products, rather than a new round of fund raising. Capital and influence are shifting from venture capital decision-making seats to brokerage and securities infrastructure boards. The beneficiary is Backpack US, which needs policy language and institutional clients, while the pressured party is other exchanges that still view the same batch of Solana fundamentalist capital as neutral advisors.

Source: Public Information