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Ripple Investments in ZILO and Licuido Expand Transfer Agency, Tokenisation Capabilities

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With a focus on providing additional services in the capital markets, payments and liquidity infrastructure provider Ripple has made strategic investments into two companies: ZILO, which provides transfer agency asset technology, and Licuido, a tokenisation platform. Both investments – which collectively bring regulated transfer agency, issuance, and collateral mobility to Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL) – build on existing relationships. No terms were disclosed.

Because capital markets rails were built before digital assets emerged, participants like issuers, investors and liquidity providers all face similar fundamental constraints: collateral that is not leveraged sufficiently, long settlement cycles, and challenges related to unlocking liquidity.

Ripple is looking to solve these problems, combining issuance, custody, collateral utility, multi-currency enabled investment, and atomic settlement, with Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD as the regulated cash leg for delivery-versus-payment transactions.

Tokenised funds can be used as collateral from the point of issuance, and trades settle atomically on the XRPL, which is a public, permissionless blockchain designed for fast, secure and efficient global financial transactions.

ZILO’s transfer agency and fund administration technology provides asset managers, custodians and transfer agents with digital record-keeping that supports tokenised share classes as funds move on chain, giving institutions the regulated record they need to run lending and collateral markets with confidence.

Licuido’s platform gives traditional financial assets, including fund shares, the same portability and utility already available to other asset classes. It manages the issuance, distribution, and execution of these assets, so they can move freely as digital collateral through on-chain atomic settlement infrastructure.

“Tokenisation of assets is only the starting point: the real value lies in what can be done with a token, including buying, selling, and settling trades instantly, or using it as collateral to borrow, lend, or post margin,” says Nigel Khakoo, SVP, Trading and Markets at Ripple.

The investments in ZILO and Licuido support Ripple’s efforts to bring traditional financial assets with real utility to the XRPL. Earlier this year, Ripple announced it is working with Aviva Investors to tokenise traditional fund structures on the XRPL. That project involves Ripple defining the token standard and partners, including ZILO and Licuido, building regulated issuance, distribution, custody for those assets.

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