Crypto payroll startup Toku supports customers in adhering to tax regulations across more than 100 countries. It has over 50 clients, including cryptocurrency exchange dYdX and Protocol Labs, developer of the decentralized data storage service Filecoin. In early 2023, it raised $20 million from an investor for further development.

The spectacular collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in late 2022 caused the biggest crisis in the crypto industry’s history. Its effects are still being felt today by many companies in the WEB3 world, but not all. One of them is the Japanese startup Toku. It offers a platform enabling cryptocurrency and token payroll services supporting clients adhering to tax regulations across 100 countries. And all this complies with tax and labor laws. Not surprisingly, it raised $20 million in funding from Blockchain Capital in March 2023.

About the founders

The Japanese crypto payroll startup was founded by American Kenneth O’Friel (now CEO) and Dominika Stobiecka (28) from Poland. He was previously a stock trader. She was involved in the banking sector for several years. She worked as a researcher at the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Deutsche Bank. Over time, however, she changed her interests, taking up analytical and research studies at Sciences Po in Paris and Keio University in Tokyo. Soon after, while skiing in Hokkaido, she met her future business partner. They quickly developed such confidence in each other that they founded Toku, a Japanese company, in 2021. Today, it has 50 clients and massive funding for business development. For now, it is working with leading global cryptocurrency companies. In the future, it wants to change how everyone works and gets paid.

Kenneth O’Friel and Dominika Stobiecka were included in:

• the U.S. Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 list,
• Japan’s Forbes 30 Under 30 2023 list.

Read more about…

• Ramp, a Polish cryptocurrency trading platform with the record $130M investment.
• Coinfirm, a Polish-British startup that offers blockchain solutions for securing cryptocurrency transactions against their illegal execution.
• Silent Eight, a Singaporean company founded by three Poles that enables the fight against fraud.
  

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  1. Booksy, the most popular app for booking visits to hairdressers and beauty salons.
  2. Vasco Translator V4, a translator device that speaks 75 languages, and translates photo captions from 108 languages in no more than 0.5 seconds. 
  3. CFD Suite, an app shortening the simulation duration of mixing chemicals from hours to minutes thanks to AI.

  TOP-3 from Polish site (links lead to English version)

  1. 1. DeepL Translator, a powerful next-generation online translation tool based on neural networks provided by DeepL.
     2. Eleven Labs, a company that provides the best speech synthesis. Based on that, it plans to make a range of products.
     3. Tomasz Czajka, a Flight Software Engineer in SpaceX. A member of the first team from Poland to win the ICPC 2003.