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Independent UK news and guides on tokenised equity, for founders raising capital, investors and the firms that support them. Published by Tokenisation Group Limited, London. Information only, not financial advice.

Aviva Investors Sterling Liquidity Fund gets a tokenised class

Writer: Shawn Jhanji
Shawn Jhanji
1 day ago
3 min read
A glowing digital pound coin floats above a futuristic platform on the River Thames, surrounded by blue blockchain network connections and London's financial skyline, with Aviva Investors branding visible on a riverside building.

Aviva Investors launched a tokenised share class of the Aviva Investors Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger on 26 October 2026. The fund holds about £22 billion, making it the firm's largest, and Aviva Investors has invested £50 million in the new class so far.


How the tokenised share class sits on the XRP Ledger

The fund is an Ireland-domiciled UCITS money market fund, first launched in 2002. UCITS is the European rulebook for funds sold to wide investor groups, and a money market fund holds very short-term debt so that investors can take cash out quickly.


The new class follows a digital twin model. Holdings are represented on the XRP Ledger, a public blockchain that Ripple supports, while the fund structure stays off-chain. The Bank of New York Mellon remains custodian of all assets, with Komainu, a regulated digital asset custodian, and Licuido, a tokenisation platform, supporting the launch.


Eligible investors with digital wallets can use the class. No regulatory approval is named for the sterling class; the structure is designed to fit within existing regulatory frameworks.


It is the second tokenised fund from Aviva Investors. The firm and Ripple announced their partnership on 11 February 2026, as the first tokenisation initiative for Aviva Investors and Ripple's first collaboration with a European asset manager. A dollar share class followed in July 2026 after approval from the Central Bank of Ireland.


A tokenised money market fund holding of £1 in 440

The arithmetic is short. £50 million divided by £22 billion is 0.23 per cent, or about one pound in every 440 held in the fund. Across the dollar and sterling classes together, Aviva Investors has more than £86 million invested, which leaves more than £36 million in the dollar class.


That makes the launch a test of plumbing, not a move of money. Tokenisation changes how units are issued, held and transferred. It does not change what the fund owns, and the fund remains a money market fund that is not a bank deposit, is not guaranteed and can fall as well as rise in value.


The counter argument is that every large fund starts small, and the second class arrived within months of the first. The figure to watch is outside money: Aviva Investors is the investor behind the £50 million, and no figure is given for other investors.


Ripple's sterling route and questions for a UK founder

Listen closely - Nigel Khakoo, SVP, Trading and Markets at Ripple, said: "Markets are moving to 24/7 access and settlement is moving to real-time, always-on rails." For a fund holding sterling cash, the test of that claim is redemption speed and cut-off times, not the share class label.


A start-up treasurer holding sterling cash has more routes into tokenised cash funds than a year ago, but access still runs through eligibility. Whether a start-up counts as an eligible investor is a question for the fund documents, and this particular launch does not appear to answer it.


However, other routes are arriving from different sides. Spiko raised $90 million for tokenised cash funds, including in sterling, and Federated Hermes plans self-issued tokenised fund shares for early 2027. Each is a different way to hold cash in a fund while transitioning over to or getting familiar with a model that involve 'blockchain'.


Redemption is where these products are judged. Fission and Multiliquid raised funds to speed tokenised fund redemption, and The Bank of New York Mellon settled a tokenised Treasury in minutes for a Citadel repo. The practical question for a founder is how fast the sterling class pays out, and at what time of day.


Domicile adds a second question. Sterling is the currency of the units, but domicile decides which regulator authorises the fund, and for this fund the domicile is Ireland rather than the UK. Founders should ask which regime governs the share class before treating it as a UK product. This is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.


Key takeaways

  • Aviva Investors launched a tokenised share class of its Sterling Liquidity Fund, about £22 billion in assets, on the XRP Ledger on 26 October 2026.

  • Aviva Investors has invested £50 million in the new class, about 0.23 per cent of the fund, and more than £86 million across its two tokenised share classes.

  • The Bank of New York Mellon remains custodian of the fund assets, with Komainu and Licuido supporting the digital side, and eligible investors need a digital wallet.

  • No regulatory approval is named for the sterling class, and the fund is domiciled in Ireland rather than the UK.


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