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The UK’s home for tokenised equity. Independent news, insight and resources for founders raising capital, investors deploying it, and the firms supporting both — as the regulation, infrastructure and opportunity converge.

Ripple Invests in UK Firms Zilo and Licuido to Expand Tokenised Collateral on the XRP Ledger

  • Writer: Shawn Jhanji
    Shawn Jhanji
  • Aug 5
  • 2 min read
Two UK based tokenisation firms have just picked up Ripple as a shareholder rather than simply a partner, a sign of how much of the plumbing behind tokenised collateral markets is being built by British regulated firms rather than imported from elsewhere. Ripple announced on 3 August that it has taken equity stakes in Zilo and Licuido, converting existing commercial partnerships into investments, though the financial terms were not disclosed. What happened Zilo is a transfer agency and fund administration technology provider for wealth managers. Licuido, regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, handles the issuance, distribution and execution of traditional assets as digital collateral. Ripple's stated aim is to improve regulated transfer agency, issuance and collateral mobility on the XRP Ledger, with the two firms expected to let tokenised funds be used as collateral from the point of issuance rather than after a separate settlement step.

Two UK based tokenisation firms have just picked up Ripple as a shareholder rather than simply a partner, a sign of how much of the plumbing behind tokenised collateral markets is being built by British regulated firms rather than imported from elsewhere.

Ripple announced on 3 August that it has taken equity stakes in Zilo and Licuido, converting existing commercial partnerships into investments, though the financial terms were not disclosed.


What happened


Zilo is a transfer agency and fund administration technology provider for wealth managers. Licuido, regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, handles the issuance, distribution and execution of traditional assets as digital collateral. Ripple's stated aim is to improve regulated transfer agency, issuance and collateral mobility on the XRP Ledger, with the two firms expected to let tokenised funds be used as collateral from the point of issuance rather than after a separate settlement step.


Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD serves as the regulated cash leg, allowing trades to settle on the XRP Ledger in three to five seconds with delivery versus payment, the mechanism that ensures an asset and its corresponding payment change hands simultaneously.


Why it matters to UK founders and investors


The detail worth sitting with is not the size of the investment, which was not disclosed, but the choice of partner. Ripple, a company with global reach and its own settlement network, chose two UK regulated firms to build out its collateral infrastructure rather than building the capability itself or acquiring a US or Asian provider.


Licuido's FCA regulation in particular is a small but real data point in the broader argument that the UK's tokenisation rulebook, built through the Digital Securities Sandbox and the FCA's ongoing wholesale markets work, is producing firms capable of doing globally relevant infrastructure work, not just domestic pilots.


For founders building in the UK tokenisation and digital asset infrastructure space, the deal is also a reminder of where near term revenue is actually being found. Collateral mobility, the ability to use a tokenised fund as security for another transaction without waiting for it to settle first, is one of the least glamorous parts of the tokenisation stack, but it is consistently the use case institutions cite as delivering measurable efficiency gains today, ahead of more headline grabbing equity tokenisation use cases.


What comes next


Ripple has not disclosed the size of its stakes or a timeline for the collateral workflows going live. The more immediate signal for UK market participants is competitive: with Ripple, JPMorgan's Kinexys and other global infrastructure providers now actively investing in or partnering with UK regulated tokenisation firms, the UK's position as a credible base for this kind of infrastructure work looks to be strengthening rather than being bypassed.


Key takeaways

  • Ripple has taken equity stakes in UK firms Zilo and Licuido, converting existing commercial partnerships into investments

  • Licuido is regulated by the FCA, and the deal is intended to let tokenised funds serve as collateral from the point of issuance on the XRP Ledger

  • Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin will act as the cash leg, settling trades in three to five seconds with delivery versus payment

  • The investment reinforces the UK's position as a base for tokenisation infrastructure providers, not just as a market for products built elsewhere


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