Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, just announced that retail investors worldwide will soon be able to participate in U.S.-listed IPOs at the offering price through its xStocks tokenized equities framework. The move directly targets one of the most tightly guarded privileges in traditional finance, where IPO allocations at the offering price have historically been locked behind institutional walls.
Customers of Kraken and select xStocks Alliance partners will be able to express interest in upcoming U.S.-listed IPOs before the company goes public and receive tokenized equity allocations at the IPO price on listing day, according to an official blog post published by the company on June 3.
Payward Services also announced the news on X, writing: “Institutions have gotten in at the IPO price for decades. Retail got the leftovers. xStocks just ended that.”
How it works
The process starts weeks before a company’s public listing. Partner exchanges open what Payward calls an “indication of interest” window, where users can submit non-binding offers within the company’s indicated price range. Payward Services then aggregates that demand and works directly with an underwriting syndicate on behalf of all xStocks Alliance partners.
On listing day, allocations are finalized. The IPO shares are tokenized, backed 1:1 by the underlying stock, held in custody by a regulated entity, and distributed to eligible customers through their exchange at the offering price.
“Going public should mean public to everyone. For decades, getting in at the IPO price has been a privilege of geography and net worth, and the most exciting moments in capital markets have been reserved for the investors closest to them. That worldview is breaking down,” said Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services. “Now a retail investor in Medellín, Madrid, or Malaysia can have similar access to a US-listed IPO, and Payward Services’ xStocks infrastructure is finally making that possible for the masses.”
The fine print: U.S. investors get a different deal
Buried in the fine print of Payward’s official press release is a detail that changes the picture for American users entirely. For U.S. investors, IPO access will not come through tokenized xStocks at all. Instead, it will be facilitated through Alpaca Securities LLC and Click Capital Markets (ClickIPO) via Kraken’s traditional equities arm, Kraken Securities.
This means Payward is running a dual-track system. International retail investors get tokenized IPO shares through the xStocks framework, while U.S. users are routed through a regulated brokerage path. The xStocks tokens themselves remain unavailable in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
The disclaimer also notes that IPO allocation is subject to underwriter and ClickIPO decisions, meaning full allocation is not guaranteed, and excess funds will be returned.
xStocks by the numbers
The xStocks framework, originally developed by Backed Finance before Payward acquired the company in December 2025, has grown rapidly. Since launching in June 2025, the framework has now processed over $30 billion in total transaction volume, with more than $6 billion settled onchain and over 125,000 unique holders globally.
That is a significant jump from the $25 billion in volume reported in March 2026 when xStocks hit 100 tokenized equities. The platform started with 60 assets at launch and has plans to expand to over 500 by the end of 2026.
xStocks tokens are blockchain-agnostic and interoperable across chains, including Ethereum, Solana, and TON. They are composable with DeFi protocols, and investors can move them across platforms rather than being locked to a single venue.
Bigger picture: Kraken’s own IPO and tokenized finance push
This announcement comes at an interesting time for Payward itself. Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed a confidential IPO filing with the SEC back in April 2026, though reports suggest the listing has been pushed toward 2027 due to difficult market conditions. Kraken’s valuation dropped to $13.3 billion in an April 2026 investment round involving Deutsche Borse, down from a $20 billion peak in late 2025.
Meanwhile, Payward has been stacking infrastructure aggressively. In March 2026, the company partnered with Nasdaq to develop a gateway connecting permissioned equity markets with decentralized blockchain ecosystems, with xStocks serving as the foundational settlement layer. Nasdaq’s equity token framework is expected to go live in the first half of 2027.
The first tokenized IPOs powered by xStocks are expected to go live in the coming weeks for customers of Kraken and other xStocks Alliance members. Payward said it plans to expand the offering to new markets and bring on additional Alliance partners in the months ahead.
According to the company’s disclaimer on X, IPO xStocks are tokenized securities that provide only price exposure and do not represent equity ownership. Allocations are not guaranteed, the products are unavailable to individuals in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, and investors face capital risk and geographic restrictions.
Also Read: SEC’s Paul Atkins Signals Big Pivot on Crypto, IPOs, and Disclosure
