The announcement, made on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, positions xStocks as the first crypto-native infrastructure to give everyday investors access to a corner of capital markets that has historically belonged to institutional buyers, private banking clients, and select regional brokerages with underwriter relationships.

Until now, retail investors had two options when a major company went public: wait until shares began trading on the open market, often at a price well above the IPO level, or simply sit out entirely if their geography blocked access to foreign listings.

Under the new xStocks IPO access model, customers of Kraken and other xStocks Alliance member platforms can submit a non-binding indication of interest before a company lists. Payward Services then aggregates that demand and works directly with an underwriting syndicate on behalf of all Alliance partners.

On listing day, shares are tokenized at a 1:1 ratio backed by the underlying equity, held in custody by a regulated entity, and distributed to eligible customers at the IPO price through the exchange they already use.

The xStocks framework has processed over $30 billion in total transaction volume in its first year, with more than $6 billion settled onchain across more than 125,000 unique holders globally. IPO access is the next product layer built on top of that base.

xStocks tokens are blockchain agnostic and composable with DeFi protocols, meaning the asset follows the investor rather than staying locked to a single venue.

Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services, framed the move as a structural shift in who gets access to early-stage public market pricing.

“Going public should mean public to everyone,” Greenberg remarked. “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.”

He added that a retail investor in Medellín, Madrid, or Malaysia can now participate in a U.S.-listed IPO through the same infrastructure institutional buyers have used for years.

The first tokenized IPOs through xStocks are expected to be available within weeks to Kraken customers and other Alliance members. Payward plans to expand the offering to new markets and bring on additional Alliance partners in the months ahead.

For crypto exchanges in the Alliance, the product adds a competitive dimension beyond spot trading. Access to highly anticipated IPOs at offering prices, through a compliant and streamlined process, is a direct retention and acquisition driver for platforms looking to position themselves as full-service investment venues.

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