Plume pilots payroll system allowing employees to receive part of salary in WisdomTree tokenized fund

Real-world asset blockchain Plume Network has begun testing a payroll system that allows employees to receive part of their salaries in tokenized money-market fund shares, in what it says is a first-of-its-kind pilot linking everyday income to onchain yield.

The program, built with payroll provider Toku and asset manager WisdomTree, uses WisdomTree’s tokenized money market fund WTGXX as the underlying asset.

Plume’s mainnet launched last year with roughly $150 million in tokenized real-world assets deployed. The protocol seeks to bring traditional financial products onchain, and has drawn backing from names like YZi Labs, as The Block previously reported.

The payroll pilot extends that thesis into a new domain: wages. By linking compensation to tokenized funds, the model tests whether onchain assets can move beyond trading and investment into routine financial activity.

Notably, the pilot removes several steps typically associated with crypto-based investing. Staffers are not required to purchase tokens, use exchanges, or move funds manually onchain.

Instead, employees can opt to allocate a portion of their pay into the fund instead of receiving it fully in cash, allowing salaries to begin earning yield immediately.

According to Plume, the structure keeps payroll mechanics intact. Salaries are calculated and delivered as usual, but Plume converts the elected portion into fund shares via WisdomTree’s infrastructure and delivers them to employee-linked wallets.

The test is initially limited to Plume employees and is intended as a reference model for broader adoption of tokenized assets in payroll and financial infrastructure. Participation is voluntary and subject to eligibility requirements, the project emphasized.