Here is another clean and fully reworded version with a slightly sharper, more analytical tone:
In a recent XRP update, Ripple disclosed on August 3, 2026, that it has taken equity positions in UK-based firms Zilo and Licuido. By converting prior partnerships into ownership stakes, the company is assembling a comprehensive institutional capital markets infrastructure on the XRP Ledger.
This move targets a critical weakness in tokenization efforts: while issuing digital tokens is straightforward, integrating them into financing, collateral, and settlement workflows with the reliability of traditional systems has proven far more complex.
The Bottleneck: Inactive Tokenized Assets
A consistent issue in institutional real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is that tokenized fund shares are created but rarely utilized.
Ownership tracking, issuance, and settlement have historically relied on disconnected legacy systems that were not built to interact with blockchain-based collateral frameworks. As a result, liquidity remains constrained and operational efficiency is limited.
Ripple has positioned these investments as a solution to those constraints—highlighting problems such as idle collateral, slow settlement cycles, and the absence of dependable mechanisms for unlocking liquidity from tokenized holdings.
Zilo addresses the ownership layer by providing transfer agency and fund administration services, ensuring a regulated and legally recognized record of asset ownership, including tokenized shares. This layer is essential for lenders before extending credit against such assets. With clients like Citi, Fidelity International, and State Street, Zilo also bridges Ripple into existing custody and transfer agency networks.
Licuido, regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, focuses on issuance, distribution, and trade execution. Its platform enables traditional financial instruments, including fund shares, to function as digital collateral through on-chain atomic settlement.
Transactions on the XRP Ledger finalize in roughly three to five seconds. Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, acts as the payment leg in delivery-versus-payment transactions, ensuring that asset transfers and payments occur simultaneously.
Combined, Zilo (record-keeping), Licuido (issuance and collateral mobility), and RLUSD (settlement) create an integrated framework that allows institutions to manage tokenized assets across their full lifecycle—from issuance to financing. Financial details of the investments were not disclosed.
Ripple’s SVP of Trading and Markets, Nigel Khakoo, emphasized in the announcement that both firms deliver critical infrastructure—bringing together regulated transfer agency capabilities and liquidity solutions needed to scale tokenized finance.
From Pilots to Production
Ripple emphasized that these investments build on established, operational partnerships rather than experimental initiatives. Licuido, for instance, is already supporting live tokenization infrastructure for the Aviva Investors USD Liquidity Fund. This fund became the first tokenized fund approved by the Central Bank of Ireland to operate on a public blockchain, launching on XRPL on July 29, 2026.
The underlying assets are held by BNY, with digital custody provided by Komainu.
Ripple’s broader institutional strategy also includes a 2025 agreement with Franklin Templeton and DBS. The partnership aims to list Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund, sgBENJI, on the DBS Digital Exchange alongside RLUSD, with plans to use it as repo collateral.
The concept of enabling collateral mobility—central to the Zilo and Licuido approach—was already being explored through this earlier collaboration.
On the network side, Ripple reported that the XRP Ledger has processed more than four billion transactions since its launch and is supported by 120 independent validators. A significant upgrade, xrpld 3.3.0, aimed at enhancing infrastructure and institutional finance capabilities, was expected shortly after the announcement.
Ripple is also participating in a UK government-backed task force comprising 54 firms working to develop real-world tokenized wholesale financial market applications over the coming year. Other participants include Circle, Coinbase, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley. The group’s initial focus is on tokenized repo markets, while Ripple’s expanding regulatory footprint in Europe supports its broader institutional ambitions.
Ultimately, the success of the Zilo and Licuido integration will hinge on whether tokenized fund shares can achieve real secondary market liquidity and operate as active collateral in live credit markets over the next 12 to 24 months—or whether they remain a more advanced version of the same idle asset problem Ripple is aiming to solve.
