Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, plans to allowretail investors to participate in U.S.-listed initial public offerings at theIPO price through its tokenized equities infrastructure, xStocks.The move builds on Kraken’s expansion into tokenized equities. InFebruary this year, the company said its xStocksecosystem had surpassed $25 billion in transaction volume in under eightmonths, with more than $3.5 billion settled on-chain and over 80,000 holdersparticipating.PaywardOpens Retail IPO AccessCustomers of selected xStocks Alliance members, including Kraken, will beable to express interest in upcoming U.S. IPOs before companies begin publictrading. Eligible investors who receive allocations will get tokenized equityat the offering price on listing day.Under Payward's process, partner platforms will open anindication-of-interest window ahead of an IPO, allowing customers to submitnon-binding orders within the issuer’s indicated price range. Payward said itwill aggregate demand across xStocks Alliance members and work withunderwriting syndicates to secure allocations.Once the IPO is completed, allocated shares will be tokenized anddistributed to eligible investors through participating platforms. Eachtokenized equity will be backed one-to-one by the underlying share held incustody by a regulated entity, according to the company.Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services, said retail investorshave historically faced barriers to IPO participation, with access oftenlimited by "geography and net worth."NEW: @Krakenfx parent @Payward will offer retail investors access to U.S. IPOs at the offering price through its @xStocksFi tokenized equities platform. pic.twitter.com/frlyUo4hgi— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) June 3, 2026CryptoFirms Race Tokenization ExpansionThe offering is built on xStocks, Payward’s tokenized equities framework.The company said the tokens are backed by underlying shares and can be usedacross participating platforms within the alliance.Payward said the framework has processed more than $30 billion intransaction volume, including over $6 billion settled on-chain, and has reachedmore than 125,000 holders globally.The company did not disclose which IPOs will be included in the initialrollout or identify participating underwriting firms.The first tokenized IPO allocations through the xStocks framework areexpected in the coming weeks for Kraken customers and other xStocks Alliancemembers. Payward said it plans to expand the service to additional markets andpartners over time.The announcement comes as competition in tokenized securities increases,with crypto firms expanding efforts to bring traditional assets such as stocks,ETFs, and other real-world instruments onto blockchain infrastructure.This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.