Jeonbuk Bank is set to adopt Ripple’s 24-hour cross-border payment service for corporate remittances, although Ripple has not confirmed whether the transactions will be settled using XRP or its RLUSD stablecoin.
XRP dropped below the key $1 mark during Asian trading hours Tuesday, reaching about $0.98 and touching its lowest level since November 2024.
The decline occurred as Ripple announced its third South Korean partnership of 2026. Jeonbuk Bank will become the first regional lender in the country to implement Ripple Payments for cross-border transactions.
The agreement follows Ripple’s earlier partnerships with Kyobo Life Insurance and Kbank, which focused on digital-asset custody and wallet infrastructure. Established in 1969 in Jeonju, southwestern South Korea, Jeonbuk Bank is the main banking institution in its home province.
Ripple said its payment service enables near-instant cross-border settlement through stablecoins, but the company did not specify which token will be used for Jeonbuk Bank’s transactions.
Traditional international transfers generally pass through intermediary banks using SWIFT and can take several days to complete. Ripple says its infrastructure can settle payments within seconds or minutes and operates continuously. Jeonbuk Bank plans to offer the service to corporate clients such as importers, exporters, technology startups and online content businesses.
Ripple Deepens Its South Korean Presence
Fiona Murray, Ripple’s managing director for Asia Pacific, said the partnership reflects rising interest in digital-asset infrastructure among Korean financial institutions.
She said banks are developing capabilities around digital assets and seeking infrastructure partners that can support them over the long term. Murray also highlighted the role regional banks play in supporting economic activity.
Ripple has increasingly positioned RLUSD, its dollar-pegged stablecoin, as a settlement tool for institutional transactions over the past year.
Ripple had not immediately responded to CoinDesk’s question about whether Jeonbuk Bank’s new service will use XRP or RLUSD.
That distinction may help explain why Ripple’s growing list of institutional partnerships has not produced a corresponding boost for XRP.
XRP Struggles Despite Ripple’s Partnership Growth
XRP reached above $3 during last year’s rally but has steadily weakened in August, eventually breaking below $1, according to CoinDesk data.
The decline comes despite Ripple continuing to establish relationships with financial institutions, custodians and asset managers.
The growing role of RLUSD can also be seen on the XRP Ledger. Tokenized real-world assets on the network are valued at around $1.38 billion, with RLUSD accounting for approximately $845 million, according to data cited by CoinDesk earlier this month.
RLUSD therefore represents more than 60% of the total value of assets issued on the ledger.
Meanwhile, derivatives traders remain positioned for a potential XRP recovery.
Open interest in XRP futures stood at approximately $2.78 billion this week. On Binance, long positions outnumbered shorts by more than three to one, while OKX showed a similar ratio.
That bullish positioning contrasts with increasingly negative sentiment surrounding XRP on social media, which has fallen to its most bearish level in roughly three months.
