The cryptocurrency company Ripple has confirmed plans to assign $10 million from its broader funding pool to tokenized U.S. Treasury bills on the XRP Ledger, marking the platform’s first issuance of such tokens. This synergistic development is contributing to an expanding industry trend of tokenizing traditional financial assets and real-world resources, an investment strategy that even major financial industry players like BlackRock are backing.
Ripple’s decision will allow a tokenized representation of U.S. T-bills, short-term government debt, to appear on the XRP Ledger, as facilitated by the tokenization platform OpenEden. The assets that underpin these tokens will be invested in short-dated U.S. Treasuries and reverse repurchase agreements (repos), which are tied to U.S. Treasuries.
The tokenization of substantial, real-world financial assets and securities is increasingly gaining traction in the crypto industry. It offers a more efficient management, issuance, and distribution process for traditional assets, particularly for private and alternative assets.
The initiative is attracting major entities. For instance, in March, BlackRock – the largest asset manager globally – introduced its USD Institutional Digital Liquity Fund on the Ethereum blockchain. This fund is backed with U.S. Treasury bills, repo agreements, and cash.
Ripple’s decision is part of a broader funding strategy, with the firm designating resources to tokenized T-bills provided by OpenEden and other issuers. However, no specific dates for this fund’s allocation were provided by either Ripple or OpenEden.
The XRP Ledger (XRPL), an open-source blockchain that uses the cryptocurrency XRP to enable global financial transfers and currency exchanges, will host these tokenized versions. Presently, more than $780 million is locked in tokenized version of U.S Treasuries according to the tracking site rwa.xyz.1.