XRP Tops Bitcoin on South Korea’s Upbit Exchange

Asheesh Birla, the CEO of Evernorth, a treasury company holding XRP, recently shared some interesting observations from South Korea. He portrays the country as a mature digital asset market, especially for XRP. Reflecting on last week’s Bitcoin Seoul conference, Birla noted that XRP surpassed Bitcoin as one of the most actively traded cryptocurrencies in the nation.

Birla emphasized XRP’s strong foothold in the Korean market. He pointed out that the XRP/KRW trading pair consistently ranks among the most active on Upbit, the country’s largest crypto exchange. According to Birla, XRP periodically generates more trading volume than Bitcoin and Ethereum during intense market activity. As a result, South Korea has cemented its reputation as one of the deepest and most liquid XRP markets globally.

XRP Outperforms Bitcoin and Ethereum in Upbit’s Trading Volume

Market data supports these claims. At the time of writing, XRP/KRW ranks as the third most actively traded market on Upbit, recording approximately $89.64 million in trading volume. For comparison, BTC/KRW and ETH/KRW hold the fourth and seventh positions, with volumes of $72.48 million and $43.02 million, respectively.

Korean Financial Giants Are Moving Into Crypto Infrastructure

Beyond XRP’s popularity, Birla disclosed a more significant transformation unfolding behind the scenes. He said South Korea’s largest financial institutions no longer view crypto as an experimental industry. Instead, they are actively investing in the infrastructure that supports the digital asset ecosystem.

Birla pointed to Mirae Asset and Hana Financial Group as notable examples. Hana is reportedly pursuing investments related to Upbit, while Mirae Asset has acquired a significant stake in Korbit. He explained that these developments suggest Korea’s biggest financial players are buying their way into exchanges, rather than building around them.

Tokenization Dominated Bitcoin Seoul Discussions

Although Bitcoin Seoul was officially a Bitcoin-focused event, Birla noted that discussions on tokenization and real-world assets (RWAs) dominated the conference floor. Participants explored a broad range of topics, including tokenized government securities, tokenized intellectual property, and other forms of real-world asset digitization. Birla specifically highlighted tokenized treasury offerings from Ondo Finance and tokenized music initiatives from SBI Digital Markets.

According to Birla, the growth of tokenized assets is shifting industry priorities. Since these assets require high throughput, low transaction costs, and fast settlement, institutions are evaluating blockchain networks based on infrastructure capabilities rather than brand recognition or community loyalty.

XRPL Continues to Gain Ground in the RWA Market

Notably, the XRP Ledger has emerged as a significant player in the growing RWA sector. The market capitalization of real-world assets on XRPL surged 124% quarter-over-quarter to $2.25 billion in Q1 2026. Since then, that figure has climbed further to approximately $3.7 billion, while the number of tokenized assets on the network has reached 293, according to data from rwa.xyz.

Evernorth recently highlighted XRPL’s rapid progress in the sector. According to the firm, the XRP Ledger reached $400 million in RWA value within just 15 months, outperforming Ethereum, which took 36 months to achieve the same milestone.

The post XRP Tops Bitcoin on South Korea’s Upbit Exchange appeared first on TheCryptoUpdates.