Backpack US appoints former SEC Acting Chairman Piwowar to board amid push for crypto perps

Crypto Insight Summary: Crypto exchange Backpack US has appointed former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Acting Chairman Michael S. Piwowar to its board of directors. Piwowar, currently at Georgetown University, was appointed by President Barack Obama and served as an SEC commissioner from 2013 to 2018, including a brief stint as acting chairman in 2017, when the SEC rejected the Winklevoss twins' bitcoin ETF proposal. He previously served as chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and as senior economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers during the Global Financial Crisis. The appointment coincides with Backpack's expansion into a stock trading platform blending traditional and tokenized equities, launched earlier in June 2026. Backpack US President Mark Wetjen, a former CFTC commissioner and acting chairman, signaled plans to expand the company's perpetual futures trading offering in the U.S. following the CFTC's approval of Kalshi's regulated bitcoin perpetuals contract. Backpack currently offers regulated perps trading in the EU. The company, which originated as a Solana-based wallet by the team behind the Mad Lads NFT collection, has announced plans to go public, including a proposed treasury backed by 37.5% of its 1 billion exchange token supply and an equity-linked staking model offering stakers 20% of corporate equity. Backpack last raised $17 million in a 2024 Series A led by Placeholder VC. Crypto Insight Analysis: Direction: Bullish BKB / Neutral BTC Impact: Minor Impact Horizon: Mid-term (1-8 weeks) Reasoning: Regulatory expertise and expansion plans signal institutional credibility but broader market impact remains limited.