Plume

Plume is an EVM-compatible blockchain purpose-built for real-world asset finance, a category its team calls RWAfi. Where general-purpose smart contract platforms treat tokenized assets as one use case among many, Plume was designed from the ground up to handle the compliance, liquidity, and data requirements that traditional financial instruments demand when they move on-chain. The project was founded in October 2023 and launched its Genesis mainnet on June 5, 2025, with $150 million in real-world assets already deployed at launch.

Architecture

Plume is built on Arbitrum Orbit, the technology stack that allows developers to deploy application-specific chains within the Arbitrum ecosystem, and uses Celestia for data availability. The Arbitrum Orbit foundation gives Plume full EVM compatibility, allowing existing Solidity tooling—Hardhat, Foundry, Remix IDE—to work without modification. The modular data availability layer from Celestia keeps transaction costs low while maintaining verifiability. The native gas token on the chain is PLUME.

Beyond the base chain, Plume bundles infrastructure specifically designed for regulated asset tokenization: built-in AML screening and monitoring, identity verification, on-ramps and off-ramps, and compliance-aware token standards that let tokenized securities behave as composable DeFi primitives across lending, borrowing, and trading protocols.

Nest Protocol

The flagship application on Plume is Nest, an RWA yield protocol that organizes tokenized assets into institutional-grade vaults. Each vault gives users exposure to a distinct asset category:

• Nest Alpha — a diversified RWA index
• Nest Basis — crypto-market-neutral yield
• Nest BlackOpal — payment financing
• nBASIS — available on both Plume and through a Binance Wallet integration

The mechanism works by having users deposit stablecoins into a vault, receiving yield-bearing RWA tokens in return. Those tokens can then be used as collateral in lending protocols or recycled back into the vault in a leveraged loop, amplifying yield exposure. All vaults are described as fully liquid and independently audited. DeFi protocols integrated at mainnet launch included Morpho, Curve, Orderly, Matrixdock, Lorenzo, Rooster, Solera, and Mystic.

Nest has also expanded beyond the Plume chain itself. In a move toward cross-chain distribution, Nest launched on Solana in 2025, where it powers the stablecoin bank product built by Perena.

Ecosystem Tokens

In addition to PLUME, the network supports two ecosystem-native tokens:

• pUSD — the native stablecoin of Plume, backed by real-world yield assets across the ecosystem
• pETH — a yield-bearing Ethereum liquid staking token native to the Plume chain

USDC is also natively integrated through a Circle partnership that brought the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol V2 from Circle to Plume.

Institutional Partnerships

Plume has assembled a roster of institutional asset managers that distinguishes it from most DeFi-native RWA projects:

• Apollo Global Management — the $938 billion alternative asset manager made a strategic investment in Plume in April 2025 and has onboarded its credit platform to Nest, reaching more than 200,000 on-chain investors through the protocol
• WisdomTree — the asset manager debuted 14 tokenized funds on Plume
• Mercado Bitcoin — the largest crypto exchange in Brazil tokenized $40 million in real-world assets through a Plume partnership, targeting broader Latin American expansion
• Securitize — the tokenization platform deployed assets on Nest, connecting to the on-chain RWA holder base on Plume
• Superstate — expanded its multichain presence to include Plume
• DigiFT and CMB International — jointly launched the first Hong Kong-Singapore regulated money market fund on Plume

The asset types supported span a wide range: private credit, corporate debt, payment financing, Medicaid receivables, mineral rights, solar farm financing, consumer credit, renewable energy loans, government treasuries, money market funds, commodities, public equities, and GPU infrastructure.

Regulatory Standing

Plume obtained a Class M Digital Asset Business Licence from the Bermuda Monetary Authority, enabling it to offer what it describes as the first regulated RWA vaults. It also received SEC approval as a registered transfer agent, making it one of the few blockchain-native entities authorized to manage digital securities and shareholder records directly on-chain. Separately, Plume was selected as one of five companies for the Mastercard Start Path Program in 2025.

Funding

Plume raised $10 million in a seed round in May 2024 led by Haun Ventures, with Galaxy Ventures participating. In December 2024, it raised a $20 million Series A from Brevan Howard Digital, Haun Ventures, Galaxy Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Superscrypt, HashKey, Laser Digital (the crypto arm of Nomura), A Capital, 280 Capital, SV Angel, and Reciprocal Ventures. Apollo Global followed in April 2025 with a strategic investment. Total disclosed funding reached approximately $30 million before the Apollo round.

Token Generation and Exchange Listings

The PLUME token generation event took place on January 21, 2025. The token subsequently listed on Binance in August 2025 with five trading pairs, launched a KRW pair on Upbit, and became available for spot trading on Coinbase. PLUME reached an all-time high of approximately $0.2475 in March 2025 before declining substantially alongside broader market conditions.

Ecosystem Scale

By Q3 2025, Plume reported $645 million in RWA TVL, more than 280,000 on-chain RWA holders, and over 100 million on-chain transactions on mainnet. The project counted more than 200 ecosystem partners and had accumulated a community of over 900,000 X followers, 250,000 Discord members, and 100,000 Telegram subscribers. During its pre-mainnet testnet phase, the network recorded 18 million wallets and 280 million transactions.

Developer Program

Plume operates the Ascend Accelerator, a dedicated program for RWA builders on the network. Supported tooling includes a Builder Hub and a Take Flight Program for early-stage projects. The team also publishes an RWA Academy educational series covering asset categories from money market funds and private credit to commodities and fixed-income securities.