Aviva Investors has launched a tokenized share class of its Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger, committing £50 million ($66 million) of its own money to the new class. The announcement came on October 26, 2026. A day later, BNY, which holds the fund’s underlying assets, and Ripple said BNY’s digital asset custody platform now supports XRP and RLUSD.
How the tokenized share class works
The new class gives eligible investors access to the Sterling Liquidity Fund through digital tokens on the XRP Ledger. The fund itself has approximately £22 billion in assets under management.
Aviva is using a “digital twin” model. The fund continues to operate off-chain as before, while investors’ holdings are reflected on the ledger. The fund’s core setup remains unchanged: it keeps the same investment objectives, risk profile, daily liquidity, and regulatory protections under UCITS, the European framework governing funds sold across the region.
The shares are issued as Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPTs) on the XRP Ledger and are aimed at specific institutional investors who hold them in digital wallets. The tokens are not transferable between holders, so they cannot be passed around or traded freely.
Building on an earlier dollar launch
This is not Aviva’s first move in this direction. In July 2026, the firm launched a tokenized share class of its USD Liquidity Fund. With the sterling class added, Aviva’s combined tokenized money market fund assets now exceed £86 million ($116 million). The new £50 million commitment accounts for the larger share of that total.
The work is part of a partnership between Aviva Investors and Ripple, positioning Aviva as a notable provider of tokenized money market funds, particularly in Europe.
The BNY custody piece
The BNY announcement adds weight to the story. BNY already serves as custodian for the fund’s underlying assets, so its custody platform supporting XRP and RLUSD connects the traditional side and the on-chain side under one roof.
What this means
For the XRP Ledger, the launch is a credibility signal. Hosting a tokenized share class of a fund with approximately £22 billion in assets gives the network an institutional use case beyond payments.
The use of MPTs is worth watching too. If other asset managers adopt the same token standard for regulated products, it could become a template for issuing restricted, compliance-friendly assets on the ledger.
There are limits to keep in mind. The tokens cannot be transferred between holders, which caps how much secondary market activity this product will generate. The investor base is restricted to eligible institutions, so retail participants will not see any direct access.
The size also tempers the hype. More than £86 million in tokenized assets is a solid start, but it remains modest against the scale of the underlying funds. The real test is whether outside institutional money follows Aviva’s own seed capital into the tokenized classes.
