The arrangement will see the investment manager put its fixed-income investment products on Ledger
US investment firm Guggenheim is taking another foray into blockchain through a partnership with Ripple to bring its fixed-income investment products onto the XRP Ledger. The move comes amid growing interest in leveraging blockchain infrastructure to back real-world financial assets, particularly USTreasurys.
With its subsidiary Guggenheim Treasury Services, the company will now offer a digital version of its commercial paper product—a short-duration, Treasury-backed instrument with maturity terms of up to 397 days. The product will be on offer on the XRP Ledger, Ripple’s decentralized blockchain network designed for fast and effective cross-border payments.
Under the agreement, Ripple invested $10 million in the asset, overseen by the Guggenheim. The investment is being seen as a step towards integrating more traditional financial products into blockchain spaces. Ripple also suggested that the commercial paper would be accessible for buying in RLUSD, its new US dollar-backed stablecoin. RLUSD, introduced in December, has already reached a circulating supply of more than $350 million.
This is not the first venture for Guggenheim into tokenized assets. The firm recently launched a $20 million commercial paper offering on the Ethereum blockchain, a continuation of efforts to merge institutional finance with digital asset technology.
The alliance occurs as more major financial institutions are looking into tokenizing real-world assets. Companies such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, among others, are spearheading efforts to digitize money market funds and Treasury securities with a view to making such conventionally low-yielding, safe investments tradable and easily accessible.
Ripple’s foray into this market indicates that it is expanding beyond cross-border payments and into more broad financial services. With the help of big partners and increased adoption of its stablecoin, Ripple is positioned well to contribute more significantly to the tokenization of fixed-income assets on public blockchains.
