EtherFi allocates $25M to Plum to bring RWA product Onchain
EtherFi has committed $25 million to Plume's real-world asset (RWA) protocol Nest, marking a move to integrate RWA production directly into the platform that expands beyond crypto-native return sources.
According to Thursday's announcement, the planned rollout will begin with the exposure of Plume's nBASIS vault associated with the superstate USCC crypto-bearing fund, with plans to add some real-world asset holdings directly to the EtherFi interface at a later stage.
The initial allocation to EtherFi users indirectly combines crypto-based transactions, rewards and government securities, a structure typically available only to institutional or sophisticated investors.
The merger extends EtherFi's RWA exposure to more than $6 billion in user deposits. According to Plume, Vault's architecture is designed to simplify access by incorporating predefined risk controls and compliance features, handling performance and reporting onchain.
EtherFi is a crypto product platform that started with Ethereum liquid inventory and has since expanded to a wide range of product offerings, and Plume provides the infrastructure to transfer institutional investment strategies to onchain storage, giving users exposure to institutional strategies managed by integrated crypto platforms.
Plum has taken steps to integrate with traditional financial systems, including registering as a transfer agent with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in October.
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The movement of virtualized real-world assets is increasing.
Unlike traditional DeFi products generated in crypto markets, real-world asset strategies derive income from income sources such as government securities and interest on loan activity.
According to data from RWA.xyz, the value of tokenized real-world assets has increased from about $5.7 billion in early 2025 to more than $27 billion. Most of the growth came from US Treasury products, which have an on-chain value of over $11 billion.
Tokenized Treasurys allow investors to access government-backed debt securities through Onchain, which combines blockchain-based payments with yields from short-term bills and money market funds.
Products from companies including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Circle hold the largest share of the market, with Circle's USYC at about $2.3 billion, BlackRock's BUIDL fund at about $2 billion and Franklin Templeton's OnChain fund at more than $1 billion in assets.
With 262,325 RWA holders holding more than $348 million in tokenized assets, distributed asset value has increased 69% over the past 30 days, according to RWA.xyz data. Nest vault products are live, including foundation-focused Vault with over $26 million in assets.
In November, Plum founder and CEO Chris Yin told Cointelegraph that the tokenized real-world asset market could grow fivefold this year.
He added that while the majority of RWA value is currently concentrated in US Treasury bills, the maturing market and interest rate environment is causing users to look elsewhere for higher yield opportunities.
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