Bending Spoons IPO Opens to Retail in 110+ Countries via xStocks

Payward Services opened pre-IPO access to Bending Spoons’ Nasdaq listing across its xStocks Alliance today, letting customers in 110+ countries register non-binding indications of interest before the Italian software roll-up goes public under the ticker BSP. The window covers the European Economic Area and runs through Kraken, Wallet in Telegram and other partners that plug into Payward’s tokenized equity rail.

Bending Spoons is the second offering in Payward’s Pre-IPO Access pipeline, following the debut tokenized SpaceX offering earlier this month. Customers can indicate how much they want to buy inside Bending Spoons’ indicated price range; funds sit reserved, not charged, until the allocation is finalized. The tokenized Bending Spoons asset, ticker BSPx, will be distributed on listing day, backed 1:1 by the underlying shares and held in custody by a regulated entity.

A Milan Software Roll-Up Goes Global via a Crypto Rail

Bending Spoons has spent more than a decade acquiring distressed consumer brands and rebuilding them, building a portfolio that now spans AOL, Evernote, Vimeo, Eventbrite, WeTransfer and StreamYard. The company, founded in Milan in 2013 by CEO Luca Ferrari and four co-founders with roughly $40,000 in seed capital, says its portfolio covers more than 50 products used by around 500 million people each month. Vimeo joined the portfolio last year in an all-cash deal valued at $1.38 billion.

Payward Services, the B2B infrastructure arm of Payward, the company behind crypto platform Kraken, is delivering the IPO access through xStocks, its tokenized equity platform that launched in June 2025 and now powers billions of dollars in transaction volume across multiple blockchain ecosystems. Payward frames the offering as opening primary-market access to a global audience that has historically been locked out by geography or wealth. The platform serves as the same regulated foundation that has run Kraken for 15 years.

For decades, the best IPOs were tilted in favor of those with the right address or the right bank. Pre-IPO Access via xStocks tears that down. Whether you’re a first-time investor or a seasoned professional, you should have the opportunity to participate in the companies shaping the future. Bending Spoons is the next proof point that the playing field is becoming more level.

The quote comes from Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services, in the press release announcing the offering. Greenberg joined Payward to build and scale Payward Services, a new division that offers tokenized equity trading, fiat and stablecoin payments, yield, lending, prediction markets and derivatives to fintechs, banks, brokerages, payment providers and exchanges through a single integration.

The Mechanics of the Pre-IPO Window

The process works in three visible steps from the customer’s perspective, with Payward Services sitting between the user and the underwriting syndicate. Funds move from a customer’s balance to reserved, then to a final allocation or a refund, all without leaving the partner app. The structure is what differentiates the offering from a normal brokerage pre-order.

1. Indicate interest. Customers register a non-binding indication of interest inside the partner app, entering how many shares they want to buy inside Bending Spoons’ $26 to $28 per-share price range. Funds are reserved, not charged, until allocation comes through and the deal closes.
2. Aggregate demand. Payward Services aggregates demand across xStocks Alliance partners and works with an underwriting syndicate to secure an allocation of the underlying shares that back the tokenized Bending Spoons asset.
3. Distribute BSPx. On listing day, the tokenized asset, ticker BSPx, is distributed to participants, backed 1:1 by the underlying shares and held in custody by a regulated entity. The token can move across participating xStocks Alliance platforms, be transferred on-chain, and integrate with compatible DeFi applications.

The release is explicit about who decides what. “All allocation decisions rest with Bending Spoons and its underwriters, and pre-IPO access allocation is not guaranteed by Payward Services,” the announcement states. Geographic restrictions apply, and the indication-of-interest window is non-binding; registering does not lock in shares at the offer price. Customers who do not receive an allocation get their reserved funds released.

The Numbers Behind the Listing

Bending Spoons has set the IPO price range at $26 to $28 per share, marketing about 58 million shares in a deal that could raise up to $1.62 billion at the top of the range. At $28, the implied valuation lands around $19 billion, a step up from the $11 billion pre-money valuation the company hit when it raised $710 million in late 2025 in a round led by T. Rowe Price with Baillie Gifford, Fidelity and Durable Capital Partners participating.

About 60% of the IPO shares are expected to come from the company as primary stock, with the remainder sold by existing shareholders including Baillie Gifford. Revenue tells its own growth story, climbing from $387 million in 2023 to $671 million in 2024 and $1.31 billion in 2025, an 84% compound annual growth rate. First-quarter 2026 results showed net income of roughly $28 million on $601 million in revenue, compared with a $112 million loss on $259 million a year earlier. Ferrari’s stake in the company is now reportedly worth about $1.4 billion, per a Reuters-cited estimate.

• $26 to $28 – IPO price range per share
• $1.62 billion – potential raise at top of range
• $19 billion – implied valuation at top of range
• 58 million shares offered
• $1.31 billion – 2025 revenue

Private Round to Public Listing, Side by Side

The jump between the late-2025 private round and the 2026 IPO range is sizable, with up to $1.62 billion in fresh primary capital layered on top of secondary sales by existing holders. The lead underwriter lineup is the same set that anchors most large US tech IPOs, and it is that syndicate, not Payward, that will decide how many of the BSPx tokens get backed by real shares on listing day. Read the Bending Spoons IPO price range and history as reported by TheNextWeb, which cited people familiar with the matter.

110 Countries, One Caveat

The headline scope is real. Eligible customers span more than 110 countries, including the European Economic Area, and the partner roster already extends beyond Kraken to Wallet in Telegram and other xStocks Alliance platforms. For most retail investors outside the US, IPOs have historically been out of reach, with access gated by geography or wealth, the announcement argues.

The caveat sits in the same press release. “All allocation decisions rest with Bending Spoons and its underwriters, and pre-IPO access allocation is not guaranteed by Payward Services.” That sentence is what links the Bending Spoons offering to the previous SpaceX event: xStocks is a distribution rail, not a primary-issuance desk. It can aggregate demand and route it to underwriters; it cannot force underwriters to set aside shares for retail.

A March 9, 2026 partnership announcement between Payward and Nasdaq points to the longer-term direction, with Nasdaq expecting Nasdaq Equity Tokens and related distributed-ledger-technology services to become operational beginning in Q1 2027. That integration would put a regulated settlement gateway between xStocks’ on-chain assets and the underlying equities, with Payward Services providing KYC and AML onboarding for holders of Nasdaq Equity Tokens in eligible jurisdictions.

The SpaceX Stress Test

The first Pre-IPO Access target was SpaceX, which went public earlier this month in a deal that raised $75 billion, roughly triple what Saudi Aramco pulled in during its 2019 IPO and nearly five times what Meta raised at its debut, according to Fortune. Retail demand for the offering was heavy; Bloomberg reported retail orders exceeded $100 billion, and the company initially planned to set aside 30% for retail, then cut the retail portion to the low-20% range before pricing. For background on how the SpaceX listing pulled capital across markets, see our earlier piece on xStocks’ SpaceX IPO and the crypto capital pullback.

xStocks and its distribution partners gathered more than $1 billion in customer orders for the offering, CoinDesk reported, but when allocations were finalized, Binance Wallet, Bybit and Bitget Wallet received no shares and refunded their customers. Kraken customers received partial allocations, and many reportedly got just 4.3 shares of SPCX, or none at all. Bybit told users that “due to xStocks’ inability to deliver the underlying assets, no SpaceX allocations were received.”

The shortfall was not limited to crypto platforms. Data compiled by Access IPOs showed that some retail investors at traditional brokerages received only a portion of the shares they had sought. An xStocks spokesperson cited “overwhelming demand” as the reason unfilled subscriptions had their funds returned. Read how xStocks partners missed SpaceX allocations in CoinDesk’s full breakdown of the timeline.

The pattern underscored the mechanics that drive any IPO, tokenized or not. Banks that underwrite the listing get the vast majority of shares to distribute to institutional clients, with retail carving out a smaller slice that often fills up on a first-come basis. Tokenizing a stock does not change the pecking order; it changes who can place a bet inside it.

The Underwriters Still Hold the Keys

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Allen & Co are leading the Bending Spoons offering, the same kind of bulge-bracket syndicate that handled SpaceX. BNP Paribas recently argued the wave of US mega-IPOs from SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic would pull European tech companies toward public markets, with Bending Spoons the most prominent example of that thesis in action. The underwriting desk remains the chokepoint regardless of how many indications of interest xStocks aggregates across 110+ countries.

What changes with this offering is what BSPx can do once trading begins. Every xStock is backed 1:1 by the underlying share and held in custody by a regulated entity; unlike a traditional brokerage account, xStocks assets can move with the investor across participating xStocks Alliance platforms, be transferred on-chain, and integrate with compatible DeFi applications. Payward and Nasdaq are working toward operational Nasdaq Equity Tokens and related DLT services beginning in Q1 2027, per the Payward-Nasdaq partnership press release.

Payward Services said in the announcement that more Pre-IPO Access offerings will open to xStocks Alliance members in the coming months, though geographic restrictions apply. For Bending Spoons specifically, the company has filed to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker BSP, with an early-July debut planned at the price range the company set this week.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does xStocks pre-IPO access to Bending Spoons work?

Customers of Kraken, Wallet in Telegram and other xStocks Alliance partners in over 110 countries can register a non-binding indication of interest inside the partner app, entering how many shares they want to buy inside Bending Spoons’ $26 to $28 per-share price range. Payward Services aggregates demand across partners, works with an underwriting syndicate to secure an allocation of the underlying shares, and distributes the tokenized Bending Spoons asset, ticker BSPx, on listing day, backed 1:1 by those shares.

Is the Bending Spoons allocation guaranteed for retail investors?

No. The Payward press release states that all allocation decisions rest with Bending Spoons and its underwriters, and pre-IPO access allocation is not guaranteed by Payward Services. Funds associated with non-binding indications are reserved, not charged, until allocation is finalized.

How is BSPx different from buying Bending Spoons (BSP) shares directly?

BSPx is the tokenized version of Bending Spoons’ Nasdaq-listed ordinary shares, backed 1:1 by the underlying share and held in custody by a regulated entity. Unlike a traditional brokerage account, xStocks assets can move with the investor across participating xStocks Alliance platforms, be transferred on-chain, and integrate with compatible DeFi applications.

What happened with the SpaceX tokenized IPO on xStocks?

xStocks and its distribution partners gathered more than $1 billion in customer orders for the SpaceX IPO, CoinDesk reported. After allocations were finalized, Binance Wallet, Bybit and Bitget Wallet received no shares and refunded customers; Kraken customers received partial allocations, with many getting just 4.3 shares of SPCX or none at all.

Who can register an indication of interest in the Bending Spoons IPO?

Eligible customers of Kraken, Wallet in Telegram and other supporting xStocks Alliance partners in over 110 countries, including the European Economic Area, can register a non-binding indication of interest in the partner app. Geographic restrictions apply, and registration does not guarantee an allocation.