Backpack US has appointed former SEC Acting Chairman Michael S. Piwowar to its board of directors. The crypto exchange announced the move on Tuesday as it expands its U.S. product offerings. Piwowar’s arrival comes at a time when digital asset regulations are getting renewed attention in Washington.
Piwowar served as an SEC commissioner from 2013 to 2018 after being appointed by President Barack Obama. Under President Donald Trump, he briefly acted as SEC chairman in 2017. He was preceded by Mary Jo White and succeeded by Jay Clayton later that year.
At the SEC, Piwowar was among the first senior U.S. regulators to publicly engage on digital assets. He and other commissioners stated that bitcoin should not be classified as a security. However, the commission took a cautious stance on the initial coin offering boom. The agency warned about crypto scams and stressed investor protection. During Piwowar’s acting chairmanship, the SEC rejected the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF proposal.
Before the SEC, Piwowar served as chief economist for the Senate Banking Committee. He worked on SEC-related parts of the Dodd-Frank Act and the JOBS Act.
Backpack ties appointment to U.S. product plans
Backpack started as a Solana-based wallet created by the team behind the Mad Lads NFT collection. It later grew into a crypto exchange operating in several markets. In the United States, Backpack US has focused on regulated access. Earlier this month, the company launched a stock trading platform for both traditional and tokenized equities.
The platform adds equity trading to its existing crypto exchange services. Backpack described this as part of its U.S. expansion plan. The company also said it plans to offer perpetual futures trading in the United States. It already provides regulated perpetual trading in the European Union.
These U.S. plans follow a recent decision by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC allowed Kalshi to offer the first regulated bitcoin perpetual futures contract. Backpack cited that approval in its announcement, saying it opens a path for U.S.-regulated perpetual products.
Wetjen cites CFTC approval and market structure
Backpack US President Mark Wetjen linked the appointment to policy changes. Wetjen previously served as a CFTC commissioner and acting chairman. He called the CFTC’s approval of bitcoin perpetuals a defining moment. He added that products once limited to offshore markets now have a route into the U.S.
Wetjen also noted coordination between the CFTC and SEC. His regulatory background adds another former U.S. agency official to Backpack’s leadership. Backpack has previously discussed plans to go public. The firm proposed a post-IPO treasury linked to 37.5% of its exchange token supply. The total token supply is 1 billion, according to the company’s plan. Backpack also announced an equity-linked staking model for token stakers. Under that proposal, stakers would receive rewards tied to 20% of corporate equity.
