Payward Services Brings Retail Access to US IPO Allocations

Retail investors will soon be able to participate in US initial public offerings (IPOs) at the offering price through a new tokenized equities program from Payward Services, a Kraken-affiliated company.

In a Wednesday announcement, Payward Services said customers of Kraken and select members of its xStocks Alliance will be able to express interest in US-listed IPOs before companies go public and receive allocations of tokenized shares on listing day.

According to the company, the shares will be issued at the IPO offering price and backed 1:1 by the underlying stock held in custody by a regulated entity, allowing eligible retail investors to access allocations that are typically reserved for institutional clients.

The launch marks one of the latest efforts to use blockchain infrastructure to broaden access to traditional financial products amid a global push for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

Bringing IPO allocations onchain

Under the proposed process, participating exchanges will open an indication-of-interest window in the weeks before an IPO, allowing customers to submit non-binding requests to purchase shares within the expected pricing range.

Payward will aggregate demand from participating platforms and work with an underwriting syndicate before allocations are finalized on the company’s public listing day.

Source: Payward Services

The resulting shares will be tokenized and distributed through partner exchanges, enabling investors to receive exposure to newly listed companies without opening accounts with traditional brokerage providers.

First availability expected in coming weeks

The first tokenized IPO offerings are expected to become available to customers of Kraken and other xStocks Alliance members in the coming weeks, with Payward planning to add more launch partners and markets over time.

“Going public should mean public to everyone,” said Mark Greenberg, global head of Payward Services, adding that getting in at the IPO price has been a “privilege of geography and net worth” for decades.

“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 executive added.

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The announcement comes as interest in tokenized RWAs continues to grow, with Bernstein Research estimating the RWA market has reached $51 billion after expanding 42% this year.

Payward Services said xStocks processed more than $30 billion in transaction volume during its first year, including over $6 billion settled onchain, across more than 125,000 holders globally. Kraken acquired xStocks operator Backed Finance in late 2025.

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