Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, plans to allow
retail investors to participate in U.S.-listed initial public offerings at the
IPO price through its tokenized equities infrastructure, xStocks.
The move builds on Kraken’s expansion into tokenized equities. In
February this year, the company said its xStocks
ecosystem had surpassed $25 billion in transaction volume in under eight
months, with more than $3.5 billion settled on-chain and over 80,000 holders
participating.
Payward
Opens Retail IPO Access
Customers of selected xStocks Alliance members, including Kraken, will be
able to express interest in upcoming U.S. IPOs before companies begin public
trading. Eligible investors who receive allocations will get tokenized equity
at the offering price on listing day.
Under Payward’s process, partner platforms will open an
indication-of-interest window ahead of an IPO, allowing customers to submit
non-binding orders within the issuer’s indicated price range. Payward said it
will aggregate demand across xStocks Alliance members and work with
underwriting syndicates to secure allocations.
Once the IPO is completed, allocated shares will be tokenized and
distributed to eligible investors through participating platforms. Each
tokenized equity will be backed one-to-one by the underlying share held in
custody by a regulated entity, according to the company.
Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services, said retail investors
have historically faced barriers to IPO participation, with access often
limited by “geography and net worth.”
NEW: @Krakenfx parent @Payward will offer retail investors access to U.S. IPOs at the offering price through its @xStocksFi tokenized equities platform. pic.twitter.com/frlyUo4hgi
— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) June 3, 2026
Crypto
Firms Race Tokenization Expansion
The offering is built on xStocks, Payward’s tokenized equities framework.
The company said the tokens are backed by underlying shares and can be used
across participating platforms within the alliance.
Payward said the framework has processed more than $30 billion in
transaction volume, including over $6 billion settled on-chain, and has reached
more than 125,000 holders globally.
The company did not disclose which IPOs will be included in the initial
rollout or identify participating underwriting firms.
The first tokenized IPO allocations through the xStocks framework are
expected in the coming weeks for Kraken customers and other xStocks Alliance
members. Payward said it plans to expand the service to additional markets and
partners over time.
The announcement comes as competition in tokenized securities increases,
with crypto firms expanding efforts to bring traditional assets such as stocks,
ETFs, and other real-world instruments onto blockchain infrastructure.
This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.
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