Backpack Just Made SpaceX Stock Tradeable Like Crypto — Here’s What That Means
A crypto exchange now lets you buy real US stocks, including SpaceX shares, 24/7 from anywhere. Here's what's actually changing.
Crypto exchange Backpack has switched on a service that lets people in more than 150 countries buy and sell real US stocks around the clock, every day of the week, using either regular cash or stablecoins. The twist for crypto holders: you actually own the underlying shares, not a synthetic copy of them, and settlement happens instantly instead of waiting for market hours or bank processing times.
The first batch of tradeable names includes stock tied to SpaceX, Micron, and SanDisk, with Backpack saying more will be added over time. Since launching in June, the tokenized SpaceX stock has become the most actively traded version of the private space company’s shares anywhere in the tokenized-asset world, according to Backpack. The company hasn’t shared exact volume figures.
Why “real ownership” is the big deal here
If you’ve dabbled in tokenized stocks before, you may have bought a “wrapped” version that just tracks a price without giving you any legal claim to the actual company shares. Backpack says its model is different: buyers get genuine ownership of the real securities, with the option to also hold a Solana-based digital twin of those shares.
That Solana-based version can be sent between wallets, plugged into DeFi apps, or swapped one-for-one back into the physical shares through Backpack’s system. In plain terms, it’s meant to feel like moving crypto around, except what you’re moving represents an actual stake in a real company.
Backpack has also said it’s planning a US initial public offering of its own. Anyone who stakes the exchange’s native token for at least 12 months would be able to trade those tokens for company shares once that IPO happens — a perk aimed squarely at loyal users of the platform.
A market that’s growing fast — and getting crowded
Backpack is stepping into a corner of crypto that’s exploded over the past year. The total value of tokenized stocks has jumped from about $379 million to $1.85 billion in twelve months, according to data from RWA.xyz. In just the last 30 days, the amount of value held in these tokens rose 28.6%, while monthly transfer activity jumped more than 85% to $8.76 billion.
Big names are piling in from both sides of the finance world. Kraken bought xStocks creator Backed Finance in late 2025, while Bybit and Bitget have added similar tokenized stock features. Coinbase and Binance have each rolled out their own versions recently.
Traditional finance isn’t sitting this one out either. The SEC approved a pilot in March letting Nasdaq trade tokenized stocks alongside regular securities on one exchange. The New York Stock Exchange has teamed up with Securitize on a round-the-clock market for tokenized stocks and ETFs, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has said it plans to roll out its own tokenized securities platform in October, with more than 50 financial and crypto firms involved in the pilot.
What it means if you hold crypto
For everyday crypto users, this trend is chipping away at the old wall between “crypto stuff” and “stock market stuff.” If tokenized shares keep growing the way they have this past year, it could eventually mean checking your portfolio app and seeing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a slice of SpaceX stock sitting side by side, tradable at 2 a.m. on a Sunday.
That said, this is still an early and fast-moving market. Rules differ by country, platforms differ in how much real ownership they actually offer, and regulators are still figuring out how to treat these products long-term. Anyone curious about tokenized stocks should read the fine print on ownership rights and settlement before assuming a token behaves exactly like a traditional brokerage account.
Read more: Real-World Asset Tokenization Hit $32B — What It Means If You Hold Crypto
