Aviva Investors and Ripple have launched a Central Bank of Ireland (CBI)-approved tokenized fund on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), providing EU asset managers with a practical model for meeting compliance standards on public blockchains.
The product went live on July 29, 2026, introducing a tokenized share class of the Aviva Investors USD Liquidity Fund on XRPL. It marks the first time the CBI has approved a fund structure operating on a public blockchain.
BNY Mellon is tasked with holding the underlying assets, Komainu delivers regulated digital asset custody, and Licuido enables the tokenization infrastructure.
Rather than another experimental crypto initiative, this represents a regulatory milestone. It is the first instance of a major European authority approving a public-chain tokenized fund, offering asset managers across Ireland and the EU a real, operational compliance benchmark.
The announcement coincided with XRP slipping 0.7% overnight to around $1.08 after losing support at $1.10. Meanwhile, Ripple’s daily trading volume rose to $1.14 billion from $1.05 billion a day earlier.
From Partnership to Production
Ripple and Aviva Investors initially revealed their partnership on February 11, 2026, outlining plans to tokenize a range of fund products on XRPL across multiple asset classes. The USD Liquidity Fund’s tokenized share class is the first live result of that strategy—an active deployment rather than a trial phase.
The fund is designed to provide daily liquidity through exposure to high-quality, USD-denominated short-term debt instruments. It carries the same investment mandate, risk profile, and regulatory protections as its traditional counterpart. Investors with digital wallets can access the fund under identical conditions, with XRPL acting as the settlement and record-keeping layer.
Institutional Design and XRPL Infrastructure
The structure combines traditional finance with blockchain technology: Licuido issues the tokenized shares on XRPL, Komainu oversees custody of the digital assets within a regulated framework, and BNY Mellon retains custody of the underlying assets. This integrated approach connects legacy systems with crypto-native settlement.
Since launching in 2012, XRPL has processed over 4 billion transactions, supports roughly 8 million active wallets, and operates through more than 130 independent validators.
Its fast, low-cost settlement and native tokenization features made it a suitable choice, particularly for institutional use cases requiring dependable transaction finality and built-in compliance capabilities.
Nigel Khakoo, Ripple’s Senior Vice President of Trading and Markets, said the launch demonstrates that a regulated, institutional-grade tokenized product can be successfully deployed on live blockchain infrastructure with full investor protections.
Aviva Investors CEO Mark Versey described tokenization as a meaningful step forward for the investment industry and highlighted the Ripple partnership as key to delivering the product.
What It Means for RWA Tokenization
The discussion has shifted from whether real-world assets can be tokenized to whether regulators will provide the clarity needed for broader institutional adoption.
The CBI’s approval answers that question within Ireland and positions the fund as a repeatable model for other EU-based asset managers.
In the near term, this precedent may influence firms deciding between public and private distributed ledger technologies for tokenizing real-world assets. Having a regulator-approved example on a public chain significantly lowers perceived compliance risk.
Aviva Investors managed about $310 billion in assets as of 2025, and both firms have indicated that this launch is the first step in a wider pipeline of tokenized fund products on XRPL.
The speed at which additional funds move through the CBI approval process will determine whether this remains a one-time milestone or evolves into a sustained tokenization program on the XRP Ledger.
