Aviva puts £50m tokenized share class on XRP Ledger

Aviva Investors and Ripple launched a tokenized share class of Aviva’s £22 billion Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger on 26 October, adding a blockchain-based way for eligible investors to hold shares in the existing fund. Aviva committed £50 million to the new class, according to Aviva Investors’ announcement.

The tokenized class is a digital access layer to the fund, not a conversion of its full £22 billion portfolio into crypto assets. Aviva describes the setup as a “digital twin”: investors’ holdings are represented on-chain, while the fund itself continues to operate off-chain. The Block’s report on the launch says the fund’s underlying assets remain with BNY Mellon.

How does a tokenized share connect to the fund?

First, the fund holds its existing portfolio of high-grade, sterling-denominated short-term debt instruments. Second, the tokenized share class represents investors’ holdings on the XRP Ledger, the public blockchain used to issue and manage the digital shares. Third, eligible investors access the class through digital wallets; Aviva says the fund’s assets remain held by its custodian, The Bank of New York Mellon.

The ledger is therefore a parallel record of ownership, like a digital register linked to the conventional fund. Aviva says the tokenized class has the same investment objective, risk profile, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections as the conventional fund. The fund, an Ireland-domiciled UCITS money market fund, dates to 2002 and targets daily liquidity.

How much of the fund is on-chain?

The £22 billion figure describes the entire Sterling Liquidity Fund, not the value of its new tokenized class. Aviva’s disclosed £50 million investment is the amount committed to that class at launch. The company says more than £86 million is invested across its two tokenized share classes, including a US dollar liquidity fund class launched in July.

Komainu, a regulated institutional digital asset custodian, and Licuido, a digital infrastructure platform, supported the launch. Aviva says the class is available to eligible investors with digital wallets. Its announcement does not specify the investor eligibility criteria or describe how transfers between wallet holders work.

What changes for investors now?

The launch gives eligible investors another way to access shares in Aviva’s sterling liquidity fund, while the fund’s existing structure and portfolio remain in place. It is Aviva Investors’ second tokenized fund share class on the XRP Ledger. The next point to watch is whether the firm details wider access or announces further fund classes; CEO Mark Versey said Aviva plans to explore more tokenization opportunities with Ripple.

References

• Aviva Investors’ announcement — avivainvestors.com
• report on the launch — theblock.co