Ripple has taken direct equity stakes in two London-based fintech firms, Zilo and Licuido, turning what were previously commercial partnerships into ownership positions as part of a broader effort to fix a problem that has quietly stalled institutional crypto adoption: tokenized assets that get created but never actually trade. The deals, announced August 3, 2026, are designed to strengthen Ripple tokenized asset liquidity on the XRP Ledger by connecting the pieces of infrastructure that institutions need to move tokenized fund shares from issuance into real financing and settlement activity.
Summary
Key takeaways
- Ripple made equity investments in Zilo and Licuido, two UK-based firms, on August 3, 2026, converting prior commercial deals into ownership stakes.
- Zilo handles regulated transfer agency services while Licuido runs an FCA-regulated issuance and collateral platform, both built on the XRP Ledger.
- Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD serves as the regulated cash leg, letting trades settle on XRPL in three to five seconds with delivery-versus-payment.
- XRPL has processed more than four billion transactions since 2012 and runs on 120 independent validators, with a protocol upgrade called xrpld 3.3.0 due imminently.
- Ripple sits on a UK government task force alongside Circle, Coinbase, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley to build live tokenized wholesale finance use cases.
Ripple strengthens UK tokenized asset infrastructure with equity investments
Ripple’s move answers a question that has dogged the tokenization industry for years: minting a token representing a fund share is easy, but making that token behave like a real financial instrument — something that can be pledged, financed, or settled reliably — is a different challenge entirely. Ripple’s own framing of the deal made that gap explicit, describing global capital markets as suffering from collateral that sits idle, settlement that takes longer than necessary, and few reliable paths for institutions to unlock liquidity from positions they already hold.
By converting existing commercial relationships with Zilo and Licuido into equity stakes, Ripple is signaling that it wants tighter control over the full chain of custody, from record-keeping to collateral mobility, rather than relying on loosely coupled partners. The stated goal is to complete a full-lifecycle institutional capital markets stack on the XRP Ledger — one that covers a tokenized asset from the moment it’s issued through the moment it’s financed or unwound. Nigel Khakoo, Ripple’s SVP for trading and markets, said the new deals build on existing work with Aviva Investors, Franklin Templeton, and DBS, adding that ZILO and Licuido “provide core capabilities that are essential to further scaling this shift: regulated digital transfer agency infrastructure and liquidity for issuance and collateral mobility,” according to a Ripple statement cited by The Block. Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
Roles of Zilo and Licuido in the XRPL capital markets stack
Each firm plugs a specific hole in the tokenization pipeline that has historically been handled by disconnected legacy systems never built to talk to on-chain collateral markets. Together with RLUSD, Zilo and Licuido form the three pieces Ripple says are needed to give institutions a single operating model for tokenized fund assets.
Zilo’s regulated transfer agency services
Zilo operates as a digital transfer agency built for asset managers moving fund structures onto the XRP Ledger. In practical terms, it provides the regulated record-keeping layer that tracks who owns what as tokenized share classes change hands — a function that has traditionally sat with legacy fund administrators disconnected from blockchain rails.
Licuido’s FCA-regulated issuance and collateral platform
Licuido, which is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, focuses on issuing and distributing traditional financial assets so they can function as usable digital collateral through atomic settlement infrastructure on XRPL. That collateral-mobility function is the piece Ripple says has been missing most: without it, tokenized holdings can sit on a ledger without ever becoming useful in a live credit market.
RLUSD and settlement speed on XRPL
The third leg of the stack is cash, and Ripple is using its own dollar-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD, to fill that role. RLUSD functions as the regulated cash leg for delivery-versus-payment transactions on the network, meaning asset transfer and payment settle together instead of one waiting on the other. That structure is central to why Ripple believes this combination can move tokenized assets beyond being static digital certificates.
Delivery-versus-payment in three to five seconds
Trades on the XRP Ledger settle in roughly three to five seconds, according to Ripple, with the delivery-versus-payment mechanism ensuring the asset and the cash move simultaneously rather than in separate steps. That speed matters for institutions weighing whether tokenized settlement can genuinely replace slower, multi-day legacy processes — and it’s a core piece of the pitch behind improving Ripple tokenized asset liquidity for asset managers evaluating on-chain fund structures.
Network scale, the xrpld 3.3.0 upgrade, and UK regulatory collaboration
Ripple is also pointing to the underlying network’s track record to make the case that XRPL can handle institutional-grade volume without sacrificing decentralization. Why does this matter? Because institutions weighing tokenization platforms typically want proof that a network has both operational history and a distributed validator base before committing serious capital.
Four billion transactions, 120 validators
XRPL has processed more than four billion transactions since 2012 and is maintained by 120 independent validators, according to figures Ripple shared alongside the announcement. A major protocol upgrade, known as xrpld 3.3.0, is expected within days of the announcement and is aimed at improving XRPL infrastructure and institutional finance functionality — though what specific features it unlocks for capital markets use cases has yet to be detailed publicly.
What the UK task force means for institutional tokenization
Ripple is one of 54 firms sitting on a UK government task force tasked with building live tokenized wholesale financial market use cases over the next 12 months. The roster includes Circle, Coinbase, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley, and the group’s first target is the tokenized repo market. That kind of company sitting at the same table as Ripple gives the Zilo and Licuido investments extra weight: this isn’t a solo infrastructure bet, it’s happening alongside a coordinated regulatory push in one of the world’s largest financial hubs.
The real test for this stack will play out over the next 12 to 24 months, as tokenized fund shares either start generating genuine secondary liquidity and serve as working collateral in live credit markets, or end up as a more sophisticated version of the same idle-token problem Ripple says it’s trying to solve.
FAQ
What companies did Ripple invest in to enhance XRPL tokenized asset infrastructure?
Ripple invested in two UK-based firms, Zilo and Licuido, converting prior partnerships into equity ownership to build capital markets infrastructure.
What roles do Zilo and Licuido play in Ripple’s capital markets stack on XRPL?
Zilo provides regulated transfer agency services, while Licuido is an FCA-regulated issuance and collateral platform on XRPL.
How are trades settled on the XRP Ledger under this new infrastructure?
Trades settle on XRPL in three to five seconds with delivery-versus-payment using Ripple’s regulated stablecoin RLUSD as the cash leg.
What is the significance of the upcoming XRPL protocol upgrade xrpld 3.3.0?
The xrpld 3.3.0 upgrade is expected to improve XRPL infrastructure and enhance institutional finance functionality.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
