XRP Ledger gains traction on Aviva Investors–Ripple tie-up

Aviva Investors will tokenise funds on Ripple’s XRP Ledger

Aviva Investors has partnered with Ripple to tokenise traditional funds on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), according to Aviva Investors (see: avivainvestors.com). The asset manager said it will use XRPL’s fast, secure, energy‑efficient and low‑cost transactions to issue and manage tokenised funds, bringing blockchain infrastructure into its fund operations for the first time.

The announcement positions XRPL as the core ledger for Aviva Investors’ tokenisation programme while keeping the focus on operational efficiency and client outcomes. The move extends Ripple’s institutional footprint in Europe and signals a pathway from pilot to production for regulated fund structures on public blockchain rails.

Why this tokenisation matters for institutional RWA adoption on XRPL

This partnership is being treated as a meaningful signal for real‑world‑asset (RWA) adoption because of Aviva Investors’ scale and its UK market position; as reported by Ledger Insights, it is Ripple’s first tie‑up with a European asset manager of this size (see: ledgerinsights.com). As large managers migrate traditional fund interests on‑chain, liquidity and post‑trade workflows can consolidate around common standards, improving comparability across issuers.

Industry focus has shifted from proofs‑of‑concept to production deployment. Against that backdrop, “Tokenization is now moving from experimentation to large‑scale production. Institutions like Aviva Investors are now focused on how to deploy regulated financial assets at scale,” said Nigel Khakoo, Vice President, Trading and Markets, at Ripple.

As reported by Financial News, peers such as DWS are exploring similar models, and the UK Financial Conduct Authority has proposed a “direct‑to‑fund” model to streamline on‑chain fund investment flows (see: fnlondon.com). These developments suggest tokenised fund structures on XRPL could align with emerging UK market plumbing, subject to regulatory engagement and product‑specific approvals.

At the time of this writing, XRP traded around $1.48 with mixed market sentiment, as reported by FXLeaders (see: fxleaders.com). This price context is descriptive only and does not alter the regulatory or operational scope described above.

Immediate implications for fund issuance, settlement, and compliance

In primary issuance and redemptions, representing fund units as on‑chain tokens can reduce reconciliation burdens and compress settlement timelines by anchoring transfers, records, and lifecycle events to a shared ledger. If implemented as described, operational gains would most likely come from faster post‑trade processing, fewer intermediated handoffs, and lower error rates versus legacy batch workflows.

Key implementation specifics, such as which Aviva Investors funds will launch first, custody arrangements, KYC/AML onboarding flows, and go‑live timelines, have not been disclosed; as noted by CryptoNews, observers are watching for these details to assess production readiness (see: cryptonews.com). Any roll‑out will need to map tokenised share registers, transfer‑agency functions, and reporting obligations to existing UK rules, with additional considerations where products distribute cross‑border.

Clarity about roles also matters given frequent confusion between Ripple and XRP. According to CryptoRank, SBI Holdings denied claims it holds $10 billion in XRP and clarified instead that it owns a 9% stake in Ripple, valued at about $4 billion (see: cryptorank.io). Distinguishing issuer platforms, network assets, and equity stakes helps frame risk, disclosure, and governance correctly for institutional participants.

How tokenised funds operate on the XRP Ledger (XRPL)

Tokenised funds represent investors’ interests as digital units on XRPL, enabling issuers to mint new tokens for primary issuance and retire them on redemption. Transfers settle on‑ledger with timestamped finality, while the ledger’s low‑cost, high‑throughput design supports frequent, granular movements of fund shares without relying on batch cycles.

In practice, fund administration and compliance obligations remain binding: investor onboarding, eligibility checks, and disclosures continue to follow applicable regulation, while the ledger provides a transparent transaction record that can support reconciliations and reporting. Over time, the same primitives used for issuance and transfer can be extended to automate corporate actions and streamline audits, provided controls map cleanly to supervisory expectations.