Aviva Investors has committed £50 million (about $66 million) to a second tokenized fund share class on XRP Ledger (XRPL), bringing its investment across two XRPL products to more than £86 million (about $116 million). The move comes as Ripple expands its round-the-clock treasury services for businesses, but neither fund tokenization nor corporate use of Ripple services necessarily translates into demand for XRP.
Aviva tokenizes shares in its £22 billion fund
The new share class is part of Aviva's largest investment fund, the Sterling Liquidity Fund, which manages about £22 billion (approximately $29 billion) in assets. The £50 million commitment represents roughly 0.23% of the fund's current assets. Registered in Ireland, the fund invests in highly rated, short-term debt denominated in sterling and offers daily liquidity. Its remaining assets continue to be managed through traditional financial infrastructure.
The XRPL tokens represent holders' ownership of fund shares; the underlying fund structure remains unchanged. Aviva launched a tokenized share class for its dollar liquidity fund on XRPL in July. Mark Versey, CEO of Aviva Investors, said the second product provides a basis for further expansion and that the company plans to explore additional opportunities with Ripple. He said tokenized funds could improve efficiency and the client experience.
The issuance uses XRPL's Multi-Purpose Token (MPT) standard, which allows financial institutions to set rules for holding, transferring and recovering digital assets. Vet, a contributor to the XRPL Foundation, said Aviva's tokens require holder authorization. The issuer can recover tokens in certain circumstances, while investors cannot transfer them directly to one another. These restrictions give Aviva control over holders and compliance procedures.
BNY Mellon holds custody of the underlying fund assets, while Komainu provides digital-asset custody and Licuido supplies the tokenization infrastructure. The setup combines blockchain-based issuance with traditional custody of fund assets without changing the fund's investment structure.
More fund issuance does not establish XRP demand
XRPL transactions require XRP to pay fees, and accounts and some ledger objects must also maintain XRP reserves. If institutional issuance leads to more network transactions and settlement activity, it could create some transactional demand for XRP. However, routine transaction fees are very low, and Aviva's £50 million fund commitment should not be treated as an equivalent purchase of XRP.
Any more substantial effect on XRP demand will depend on whether additional institutions issue products on XRPL, whether settlement activity grows and whether related liquidity applications expand. The two Aviva fund share classes alone do not establish how much incremental demand for XRP may result.
Ripple expands 24/7 corporate treasury services
At its Swell 2026 conference, Ripple announced new features for its corporate treasury platform, aimed at companies seeking to manage liquidity and payments outside traditional banking hours. One service, called “24/7 Returns,” allows eligible corporate clients to earn returns on qualifying digital assets through a Ripple wallet, including Ripple's U.S. dollar stablecoin, RLUSD. Ripple said the service could allow companies to earn returns on working capital that would otherwise sit idle overnight, on weekends or on public holidays, without managing the underlying digital-asset transactions themselves.
Ripple also introduced a treasury orchestration layer that combines its GSmart artificial intelligence capabilities with cash-flow forecasting, reconciliation, liquidity management and payment execution. The expansion builds on Ripple's October 2025 acquisition of treasury-services provider GTreasury for $1 billion.
Companies listed by Ripple as clients of its treasury platform include American Airlines, Subway, Adecco, Kingfisher, Christian Louboutin and Trax. The announcement did not say that these companies are participating in 24/7 Returns or that they use XRP or RLUSD.
Corporate adoption of digital assets remains limited. The Association for Financial Professionals' 2026 liquidity survey found that 46% of respondents had increased their U.S. dollar cash balances, while 86% said they would consider using real-time money market funds if those funds met their investment policies. Only 1% were already using or piloting stablecoins or tokenized products, while another 9% were actively evaluating them.
Ripple has not disclosed the returns available through its new treasury products, how those returns are generated or whether participating companies will settle transactions on XRPL. RLUSD operates on multiple blockchains, and Ripple's payments infrastructure can settle using stablecoins or traditional currencies. The expansion of Ripple's corporate services therefore does not, by itself, mean transactions will pass through XRP.