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About Toku
Toku is a payroll and compliance platform built for token-based compensation. Its core business covers three areas: stablecoin and token payroll (paying employees and contractors in USDC/USDT or native tokens), token grant administration (managing vesting and reporting), and a tax engine that automates jurisdiction-aware compliance. It also offers Employer of Record (EOR) services in 100+ countries, letting companies hire without local entities.
The market pain point is clear: traditional cross-border payroll suffers from FX markups, 3-5 day settlement delays, and complex local tax/labor compliance. Toku solves this by using stablecoin rails for same-day settlement with zero FX markup, while handling local tax withholding, statutory contributions, and payslip generation. Its differentiator is the combination of crypto-native infrastructure with serious compliance — backed by legal and tax expertise across 100+ jurisdictions, making it suitable for both crypto companies and traditional firms paying in digital dollars.
In the past six months (March to September 2026), Toku launched its stablecoin payroll product, enabling same-day payments across 100+ countries with no per-seat fees. It partnered with Paxos to offer opt-in yield on payroll balances, and introduced a Rain Visa card that lets employees spend their stablecoin earnings directly. The platform also expanded its token grant administration and tax engine capabilities, positioning itself as a full-stack solution for global token-based employment.
Toku has made significant strides in the past six months. In January 2026, Toku partnered with Aleo and Paxos Labs to launch a fully private stablecoin payroll solution built on Aleo's zero-knowledge blockchain and Paxos Labs' USAD stablecoin, addressing payroll data exposure on public blockchains. The solution lets companies add a stablecoin payment layer to existing payroll systems (ADP, Workday, UKG, Gusto, Rippling) via API, with employees opting to receive part of their pay in stablecoins while transaction details remain confidential. Toku's annual processing volume has surpassed $1 billion, spanning 100+ countries.
For Rippling integration, Toku connects via OAuth with read-only access to rosters and payroll runs, automatically deducting and delivering stablecoin portions each pay period while keeping tax calculations and compliance unchanged.
Future priorities include: rolling out private stablecoin payroll to select enterprise clients in Q1 2026, with full availability by mid-2026; expanding integrations with major payroll platforms; leveraging zero-knowledge proofs to safeguard payroll privacy; and offering opt-in yield through Paxos Labs' USAD stablecoin.
Toku co-founder and CEO Kenneth O'Friel: graduated from Bates College (Economics and East Asian Studies); former Global Markets Analyst/Associate at Bank of America (Tokyo, 2016-2020); founded Toku (formerly WorkDAO) in 2020; currently a member of StartX.
Co-founder Dominika Stobiecka: BSc (Hons) in Economics, Finance and Management from Queen Mary University of London; MRes in Economics from Sciences Po and Keio University; previously worked in Fixed Income Portfolio Management at Deutsche Bank and conducted research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the European Central Bank; joined Toku as co-founder in 2021.