US stock markets close at 4 PM Eastern. The rest of the world keeps spinning. Backpack, the crypto exchange built by alumni of the now-infamous FTX, is betting that mismatch is a problem worth solving, and on July 10 it flipped the switch on 24/7 trading for a handful of real US equities aimed at international investors.

The initial roster includes three tokenized stocks: SpaceX (trading under SPCX), Micron (MU), and SanDisk (SNDK). Each token is backed 1:1 by actual shares held in custody, meaning holders retain full legal ownership rights, including dividends and corporate action participation.

From crypto rails to equity rails

Backpack launched its regulated brokerage arm, Backpack Securities, in June 2026. The division operates under New York UCC Article 8, which governs securities entitlements. In English: these aren’t synthetic derivatives or IOUs. They’re real securities with real legal standing, just living on the Solana blockchain instead of sitting in a conventional brokerage’s database.

The tokenization model works like this. Backpack Securities purchases and custodies actual shares of each company. It then issues corresponding tokens on Solana that trade continuously, even when the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are dark. Holders can redeem their tokens back into traditional brokerage accounts whenever they want.

SpaceX was the first to go live on June 12, conveniently timed with the company’s Nasdaq listing. Micron followed on June 22, with SanDisk arriving around June 24.

The demand, it turns out, was not subtle. SPCX racked up more than 10,000 holders and surpassed $350 million in cumulative trading volume within just days of its debut. The token also captured 91% of all tokenized SpaceX trading volume across competing platforms.

Why international investors care

Here’s the thing about US equity markets. They operate roughly 6.5 hours per day, five days a week. If you’re an investor sitting in Singapore, Sydney, or São Paulo, that window often falls at inconvenient hours. Major earnings releases, geopolitical developments, or Fed announcements can move stocks significantly while non-US investors are locked out.

What distinguishes Backpack’s approach is the combination of a regulated US brokerage backend with blockchain settlement on the frontend. The shares aren’t imaginary. They sit in custody. They’re redeemable. And they carry the same economic rights as shares held at Fidelity or Schwab.

What this means for investors

There’s an irony worth noting. Backpack was founded by former employees of FTX, a company that collapsed spectacularly in late 2022 partly because customer assets weren’t actually where they were supposed to be. Backpack’s entire value proposition rests on proving the opposite: that assets are fully custodied, fully backed, and fully redeemable. The 1:1 backing model and UCC Article 8 compliance are as much a trust-rebuilding exercise as they are a product feature.

Risk factors remain. Regulatory clarity around tokenized securities is still evolving across jurisdictions. International investors buying tokenized US stocks may face varying tax treatment depending on their home country. And liquidity during off-hours, while theoretically continuous, depends on market makers willing to quote prices when underlying reference markets are closed, which introduces pricing risk during volatile overnight sessions.

The 91% market share figure for tokenized SpaceX trading suggests a winner-take-most dynamic that rewards the first regulated platform to move.