Toku, a platform for compliant stablecoin payroll, and Pact Labs, an infrastructure platform enabling the origination, securitization, and servicing of on-chain loans across borders, have announced a partnership to offer stablecoin-based earned wage access. This initiative aims to free billions of dollars currently held in payroll cycles, providing workers with more control over their payment timing and making stablecoin payroll more accessible for companies.
Approximately $340 billion is estimated to be frozen within U.
S. payroll cycles at any given time. This capital represents earned wages that employees cannot access conveniently due to traditional payday structures. For a significant portion of the global workforce, including the 67% of Americans reportedly living paycheck-to-paycheck, these delays can result in late fees, overdraft charges, or a reliance on short-term credit. Existing earned wage access products often present challenges due to high costs or a lack of integration with existing payroll systems, which can be inconvenient for employers and carry risks for employees. This system restricts liquidity for workers and limits employers’ responsiveness to workforce needs.
Through this collaboration, Toku and Pact Labs aim to bridge this gap by providing instant, on-chain access to wages in trusted stablecoins or fiat currency. By embedding earned wage access and leveraging Toku’s integrations with major payroll providers, the partnership builds on the increasing adoption of stablecoin payroll. This approach is designed to allow companies to offer an attractive benefit without disrupting their existing payroll systems, while enabling employees to manage cash flow gaps without resorting to costly short-term credit options.
Ken O’Friel, Co-Founder and CEO of Toku, stated, “Earned wage access demonstrates how stablecoins can streamline payroll. It allows for payments in minutes instead of weeks, even across borders, without additional friction for employers. Our partnership with Pact Labs enables workers to receive money as soon as it is earned, in a currency offering stability. This shifts payroll from a waiting game to a mechanism for financial freedom.”
Eric Cuellar, Co-Founder and CPO of Pact Labs, commented, “Pact’s mission focuses on making credit more affordable and accessible globally, and EWA is a key financial product for achieving that. Unlike traditional payday lending, where credit risk is with the employee, EWA transfers that risk to the business, creating a higher-quality asset at no cost to the consumer. With Toku, we are upgrading EWA to stablecoin rails, allowing workers to be paid early in USD stablecoins regardless of their location, and to easily access permissionless yield and remittances.”
This partnership integrates earned wage access as a native feature of stablecoin payroll, combining the choice of how workers are paid with the autonomy to decide when.
