Aviva puts £22bn sterling fund share class on XRP Ledger

Money market funds give investors exposure to short-term debt while maintaining daily liquidity. On 26 October, Aviva Investors and Ripple launched a tokenized share class of Aviva’s £22 billion Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger, extending the asset manager’s use of blockchain for fund access, according to Aviva Investors’ announcement.

The launch brings an onchain access layer to an existing fund while leaving its underlying structure and assets in conventional custody.

How does the tokenized share class work?

Aviva describes the arrangement as a “digital twin”: investors’ holdings are represented onchain, while the fund itself continues to operate offchain. The fund is an Ireland-domiciled UCITS money market fund, first launched in 2002, that invests in high-grade, sterling-denominated short-term debt instruments.

The new class is available to eligible investors with digital wallets. Aviva says it has the same investment objective, risk profile, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections as the conventional fund. The Bank of New York Mellon holds the fund’s assets; regulated digital asset custodian Komainu and digital infrastructure platform Licuido supported the launch.

How large is the tokenized offering?

The £22 billion figure is the size of Aviva’s existing Sterling Liquidity Fund, which it calls its largest fund; it is not the amount invested in the tokenized share class. Aviva says it invested £50 million in the new class and has more than £86 million invested across its two tokenized share class offerings. The total includes the firm’s earlier tokenized US dollar Liquidity Fund class, launched in July.

The Block’s report puts the fund’s size at about $29.4 billion and Aviva’s £50 million investment at about $66.7 million. Those figures refer to the underlying fund and the new class investment respectively, not to the tokenized portion alone.

What does the XRP Ledger add?

Aviva says the XRP Ledger will be used to issue and manage the tokenized share class through blockchain transactions. The firm describes the structure as designed to operate within existing regulatory frameworks; eligible investors access it through digital wallets, while the fund’s assets remain with its custodian.

This is Aviva Investors’ second tokenization of an existing fund, following the USD Liquidity Fund share class in July. The sterling launch extends its tokenized money market fund offering to another currency, while retaining the same underlying fund objective and daily liquidity characteristics, according to the firm.

Sources

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