Ripple has announced strategic investments in two fintech firms, ZILO and Licuido, aiming to integrate regulated financial infrastructure directly into the XRP Ledger. The move is part of Ripple's broader push into tokenized capital markets and institutional DeFi, bridging traditional finance with on-chain solutions.
ZILO specializes in transfer agency technology—managing shareholder records and ensuring compliance for tokenized securities—while Licuido focuses on issuance and distribution of traditional financial assets, enabling their use as digital collateral through atomic settlement infrastructure. By backing these companies, Ripple intends to offer regulated transfer agency, asset issuance, and collateral mobility on the XRP Ledger.
Nigel Khakoo, Ripple's SVP for trading and markets, stated that the deals build on existing partnerships with Aviva Investors, Franklin Templeton, and DBS, demonstrating how asset managers are scaling tokenized fund structures. "ZILO and Licuido provide core capabilities that are essential to further scaling this shift," Khakoo added, emphasizing regulated digital transfer agency and liquidity for issuance and collateral movement.
The investments directly address long-standing capital market inefficiencies—idle collateral, slow settlements, and limited liquidity. Ripple’s infrastructure now combines issuance, custody, collateral utility, multi-currency investment, and atomic settlement, with RLUSD (Ripple’s stablecoin) serving as the regulated cash leg for delivery-versus-payment transactions.
For the XRP ecosystem, this could reduce reliance on intermediaries, speed up post-trade processes, and lower operational costs while maintaining regulatory compliance. The move positions Ripple as a leader in compliant DeFi, potentially attracting more institutional players and reinforcing the XRP Ledger’s role beyond payments.
