Amid global market volatility, XRP has emerged as the most traded cryptocurrency in South Korea, surpassing both Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinMarketCap data. This surge in trading activity has maintained XRP’s price in the range of $1.45 to $1.52, demonstrating resilient demand despite international market pressures.
Seoul Developments Drive XRP Momentum
The rally in XRP coincides with the conclusion of the XRP Seoul 2026 conference, during which a strategy for advancing distributed ledger technology in the region was unveiled. However, there remains cautious sentiment regarding the interpretation of trading volumes in South Korea.
The primary catalyst for this market activity was the discussions held during Seoul’s crypto week. Vet, a member of the XRPL Foundation, revealed that Kakao Bank, a digital bank with 27 million customers, has approved plans to implement its blockchain infrastructure by 2027. The bank is evaluating the integration of the XRP Ledger for custody services and the tokenization of real-world assets.
Kakao Bank has approved its blockchain infrastructure for 2027, considering XRP Ledger for custody services and the tokenization of real-world assets.
Both Woori Bank and K Bank have shown interest in the same ledger. To coordinate these efforts, the XRP Asia center was announced during the event, with Sabrina Tachdjian appointed as its head.
AI-Powered Payments Gain Traction
Concurrently, some liquidity has flowed into the Agentic Economy, focusing on micro-payment usage by AI agents. The infrastructure initiative t54.ai, backed by Franklin Templeton, has reported over 12 million autonomous robot transactions on the XRPL through the x402 protocol.
Speaking at a panel in Seoul, representatives from t54 highlighted that their AI infrastructure is designed for automation, using both XRP and the forthcoming RLUSD stablecoin for payment and settlement units.
t54 representatives noted plans to use XRP and RLUSD as settlement units on XRPL’s AI infrastructure.
Despite this excitement, monitoring data suggests that XRP’s dominance in South Korea’s market is not driven by a global supply squeeze but rather by regulatory factors unique to South Korea. Legal restrictions on margin trading have pushed individual traders towards the spot market, leading to a skewed transaction volume for certain assets.
Integration tests conducted by banks focus on internal fiat settlement software, making direct XRP purchases unnecessary. Furthermore, network fees paid by AI agents consist of very small fractions of XRP, meaning millions of transactions do not significantly impact the market supply in the short term.
The rise to the top in trading volume in South Korea suggests a strong interest in XRP. However, the true impact on XRP’s market valuation from bank-developed programs is anticipated to become clearer by 2027, with the full deployment of such platforms.
