Aviva and Ripple put £22bn sterling fund shares on XRPL

Aviva Investors and Ripple launched a tokenised share class of Aviva’s £22 billion Sterling Liquidity Fund on XRP Ledger on 26 October, adding a blockchain-based way for eligible investors to access the fund. Aviva’s announcement says the new class represents holdings on-chain while the fund’s existing structure stays off-chain.

The first step is the fund itself: an Ireland-domiciled UCITS money market fund that invests in high-grade, sterling-denominated short-term debt and offers daily liquidity. Next, the tokenised share class adds a digital record of investors’ holdings on XRP Ledger. Investors need an eligible digital wallet to access it. The blockchain record is a digital twin of the holding, not a transfer of the fund’s portfolio onto the ledger. Aviva Investors’ launch announcement says the class has the same investment objective, risk profile, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections as the conventional fund.

What does the token represent?

It represents a holding in the fund’s new share class. The underlying assets remain with the fund’s custodian, The Bank of New York Mellon, while Komainu supported digital asset custody and Licuido supplied tokenisation infrastructure, according to Aviva. Think of the token as a digital access layer attached to an existing fund: it changes how a holding is represented, while the fund continues to operate off-chain.

The fund dates to 2002 and targets low-risk returns with daily liquidity. Those are the fund’s stated characteristics, not a guarantee of returns or of the token trading continuously. The announcement says the new class is available to eligible investors with digital wallets; it does not set out wider public access terms.

How large is the new tokenised class?

Aviva invested £50 million ($66 million) in the new class. The £22 billion figure describes the whole Sterling Liquidity Fund, not the amount represented by tokens. Aviva said more than £86 million ($116 million) was invested across its two tokenised share classes, including the US dollar liquidity fund class launched in July.

The Block’s report also describes the digital-twin model: holdings are represented on-chain, while the fund remains off-chain. The launch therefore adds a blockchain-based route into an established money market fund. It does not put the fund’s £22 billion portfolio on XRP Ledger.

Sources and documents

• Aviva Investors’ launch announcement — avivainvestors.com
• The Block’s report — theblock.co