Key Takeaways
- • Aviva Investors launched a tokenized share class of its £22 billion Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger, seeded with £50 million ($66 million), announced October 26 in partnership with Ripple.
- • The launch is Aviva's second tokenized fund offering, following a tokenized share class of its USD Liquidity Fund in July 2026; Aviva has more than £86 million ($116 million) invested across both tokenized share classes.
- • The Sterling share class uses a digital twin model: holdings are represented on-chain while the Ireland-domiciled UCITS money market fund keeps its existing off-chain structure, objective, risk profile, daily liquidity and regulatory protections.
- • The Bank of New York Mellon acts as custodian, with Komainu and Licuido supporting the launch alongside Ripple.
- • The move follows BlackRock's August tokenized share classes for European money market funds on Ethereum and reflects growing institutional interest in tokenized cash funds.
Summary
Aviva Investors has launched a tokenized share class of its Sterling (GBP) Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger, extending its blockchain-based investment offering to a fund with approximately £22 billion in assets. The launch was announced on October 26 in partnership with Ripple, according to the publisher's reporting. It marks the asset manager's second tokenized fund offering, following the introduction of a tokenized share class for its USD Liquidity Fund in July 2026. Aviva has more than £86 million ($116 million) invested across the two tokenized share classes, including £50 million ($66 million) in the new sterling-denominated offering.
The Sterling Liquidity Fund uses a digital twin model that represents fund holdings on the blockchain while preserving the existing off-chain fund structure. The Ireland-domiciled UCITS money market fund retains the same investment objective, risk profile, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections as its conventional counterpart, which launched in 2002. The fund targets low-risk returns and daily liquidity through exposure to high-grade, sterling-denominated short-term debt instruments. Eligible investors can access the tokenized share class through digital wallets, and The Bank of New York Mellon holds the fund's assets as custodian.
Komainu, a regulated institutional digital asset custodian, and Licuido, a digital infrastructure platform for tokenizing and trading real-world assets, supported the launch alongside Ripple. Aviva Investors CEO Mark Versey said the launch demonstrates the firm's intention to expand its tokenization capabilities. He added that "tokenised funds can increase efficiency and ultimately lead to improved client outcomes."
The launch comes amid growing institutional interest in tokenizing traditional money market funds. In August, BlackRock introduced tokenized share classes for selected European money market funds on Ethereum, covering sterling, euro and US dollar products. BNP Paribas Asset Management issued a tokenized share class of a French-domiciled money market fund on Ethereum in February 2026, using a permissioned access model that restricted holdings and transfers to authorized participants. Separately, Spiko raised $90 million in a Series B round in October 2026, with its tokenized cash funds reaching $2.7 billion in assets under management across euro, dollar, sterling and Swiss franc products. Earlier, in June 2023, Archax created a tokenized representation of interests in abrdn's Aberdeen Standard Liquidity Fund (Lux) Sterling Fund using Hedera Hashgraph.
The Sterling Liquidity Fund uses a digital twin model that represents fund holdings on the blockchain while preserving the existing off-chain fund structure. The Ireland-domiciled UCITS money market fund retains the same investment objective, risk profile, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections as its conventional counterpart, which launched in 2002. The fund targets low-risk returns and daily liquidity through exposure to high-grade, sterling-denominated short-term debt instruments. Eligible investors can access the tokenized share class through digital wallets, and The Bank of New York Mellon holds the fund's assets as custodian.
Komainu, a regulated institutional digital asset custodian, and Licuido, a digital infrastructure platform for tokenizing and trading real-world assets, supported the launch alongside Ripple. Aviva Investors CEO Mark Versey said the launch demonstrates the firm's intention to expand its tokenization capabilities. He added that "tokenised funds can increase efficiency and ultimately lead to improved client outcomes."
The launch comes amid growing institutional interest in tokenizing traditional money market funds. In August, BlackRock introduced tokenized share classes for selected European money market funds on Ethereum, covering sterling, euro and US dollar products. BNP Paribas Asset Management issued a tokenized share class of a French-domiciled money market fund on Ethereum in February 2026, using a permissioned access model that restricted holdings and transfers to authorized participants. Separately, Spiko raised $90 million in a Series B round in October 2026, with its tokenized cash funds reaching $2.7 billion in assets under management across euro, dollar, sterling and Swiss franc products. Earlier, in June 2023, Archax created a tokenized representation of interests in abrdn's Aberdeen Standard Liquidity Fund (Lux) Sterling Fund using Hedera Hashgraph.
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