Kraken unit to offer tokenized US IPO shares to retail investors

Payward Services, a Kraken-affiliated company, will let Kraken customers and select members of its xStocks Alliance buy tokenized shares of U.S. initial public offerings at the IPO offering price. Each token will be backed 1:1 by the underlying stock held in custody by a regulated entity. The program is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks.

Participating exchanges will open an indication-of-interest window in the weeks before a company lists, allowing customers to submit non-binding requests to purchase shares within the expected pricing range. Payward will aggregate demand from those platforms, coordinate with underwriting syndicates and finalize allocations on the day the company goes public.

Allocated shares will be issued as tokens and distributed through partner exchanges. Investors will be able to hold or trade the tokens through those platforms without opening accounts at traditional broker-dealers.

The initial offerings will be available to Kraken customers and select xStocks Alliance members. Payward plans to add more launch partners and expand into additional markets over time. The company says tokens will be issued at the same price as the IPO allocation and will be fully backed by the custodial stock.

Mark Greenberg, global head of Payward Services, described the aim as “Going public should mean public to everyone.” He added that access to IPO pricing has long been limited by geography and net worth and that retail investors in Medellín, Madrid or Malaysia could get similar access to U.S.-listed IPOs.

Payward reported that the xStocks platform processed more than $30 billion in transaction volume in its first year, including over $6 billion settled onchain across more than 125,000 holders. Kraken acquired Backed Finance, the operator of xStocks, in late 2025.

Payward cited market research estimating the tokenized real-world asset market at about $51 billion after a 42% increase this year. The company said the program routes IPO allocations through existing underwriting processes and converts final holdings into tradeable tokens while custody of the underlying securities remains with regulated custodians.

Payward described the initial rollout timeline as weeks rather than months and expects to add partners and jurisdictions after launch.