Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken and developer of the xStocks tokenized equities framework, is set to offer retail investors access to U.S.-listed initial public offerings at the IPO price.
The launch is expected in the coming weeks, when customers of Kraken and select xStocks partners will be able to register interest in a U.S.-listed IPO before the company goes public, then receive an allocation of tokenized shares at the IPO price on listing day, Payward said in a statement shared with The Block on Wednesday.
IPO access at the offering price is typically reserved for institutional investors, private banking clients, and select platforms with established underwriter relationships. Retail investors in some countries don't have any option to participate, and in others, they can only buy after stocks begin trading on the open market. This often leaves them unable to participate until after trading begins, when prices may already have moved above IPO levels, Payward said, something it hopes to change.
"Going public should mean public to everyone. 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," Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services, said. "Now a retail investor in Medellín, Madrid, or Malaysia can have similar access to a U.S.-listed IPO."
