Pilot Program Pays Salaries in Tokenized Fund Shares Instead of Cash

A new pilot programme is testing a different way to pay salaries. Instead of cash alone, employees can now receive part of their wages in tokenized fund shares. The scheme, launched by financial firm Plume in late 2025, embeds investment products directly into payroll systems for the first time. For decades, payroll has worked the same way: employers transfer cash to employees, and nothing more. But standalone tokenized investment platforms—like money market funds or credit products—have struggled to attract widespread use. The issue has never been the technology itself, but getting it into the hands of everyday users.

Plume's pilot tackles this by integrating tokenized assets into an existing process. Three companies—a Singapore tech startup, a UK mid-sized firm, and a German manufacturer—have already signed up. Eligible employees now receive a portion of their salary in shares of a regulated money market fund, rather than just cash. The key change is timing. Instead of waiting for workers to invest their earnings later, the system delivers yield the moment wages are paid. This removes extra steps and makes tokenized funds part of routine financial transactions.

The pilot could mark a shift in how tokenized assets are used. If successful, they may move from niche investment tools to standard financial infrastructure. For now, the test focuses on proving whether embedding such products into payroll can work at scale.