Crypto exchange Kraken’s affiliate Payward Services said on Wednesday that its xStocks framework will let eligible Kraken customers and select xStocks Alliance retail clients participate in US-listed IPOs at the offering price, with the first tokenized IPOs due in the coming weeks.
The move extends xStocks, Payward’s tokenized equities framework, from secondary-market stock tokens into a primary issuance use case.
Partner exchanges open an indication-of-interest window ahead of a listing, during which customers submit non-binding offers within the company’s indicated price range. Payward aggregates that demand and works with the underwriting syndicate on behalf of all alliance partners.
On listing day, allocations are finalized, tokenized 1:1 against the underlying share held by a regulated custodian, and distributed through the user’s existing exchange account.
The tokenized shares are classified as tracker certificates and do not carry shareholder voting rights. xStocks are currently unavailable in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, according to Kraken’s product page.
“For decades, getting in at the IPO price has been a privilege of geography and net worth,” said Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services.
Kraken first announced xStocks in 2025 as tokenized US-listed stocks and ETFs for clients in select jurisdictions. The framework has since processed over $30 billion in transaction volume, with more than $6 billion settled onchain across over 125,000 holders.
Payward said it plans to expand IPO access to new markets and additional alliance partners.
