Ripple has partnered with Jeonbuk Bank, a subsidiary of JB Financial Group, to deploy Ripple Payments for cross-border business remittances, making Jeonbuk the first South Korean regional bank to adopt the service. The signing ceremony was attended by Fiona Murray, Ripple's Managing Director for APAC, alongside other senior Ripple executives, while representing Jeonbuk Bank was President Park Chun-won and other key bank officials. According to reports from BitcoinWorld, the partnership was announced on August 18, marking a significant step in the integration of blockchain-based solutions into traditional banking infrastructure in one of Asia's most technologically advanced markets. The integration allows Jeonbuk Bank to settle international transfers in seconds or minutes rather than the days required by conventional correspondent banking payments, with the service designed to operate 24/7 to address regional companies' challenges with local banks lacking direct relationships with recipient institutions.
Jeonbuk Bank plans to offer the service to businesses that regularly send or receive money internationally, including import-export companies, IT startups and online content creators conducting international business payments. The service will operate continuously rather than only during local banking hours, with Jeonbuk Bank's President Park Choon-won stating that the partnership will help the bank move beyond its traditional regional role and compete as a digital finance provider. According to BitcoinWorld, the collaboration is expected to streamline international transactions, potentially offering faster settlement times and lower fees compared to traditional correspondent banking. However, as reported by CoinDesk, the partnership does not specify which stablecoin powers the transfers, with Ripple describing the service as delivering near real-time stablecoin cross-border settlement without disclosing the exact asset used. The same split between RLUSD and XRP shows on Ripple's own ledger, with tokenized real-world assets worth about $1.38 billion, of which $845 million is RLUSD. The stablecoin accounts for more than three-fifths of everything issued there, though KBank's pilot currently uses stablecoin-based settlement rather than XRP as a bridge asset.
According to the partnership announcement, the integration manages payment routing, foreign exchange and settlement through one institutional connection, eliminating the need for multiple intermediary banks that can add processing time, fees and reconciliation work. However, as reported by CoinDesk, the companies did not disclose the first payment corridors, supported currencies, transaction volumes, fees or full commercial launch schedule. BitcoinWorld reports that Ripple's technology uses blockchain to facilitate real-time gross settlement systems, with the partnership potentially serving as a model for other regional banks looking to modernize their payment infrastructures. Jeonbuk Bank will use the infrastructure to offer faster and more transparent remittance services to global business customers, extending near real-time cross-border settlement directly to the businesses it serves. Traditional bank transfers pass through multiple intermediary banks via the SWIFT network and can take days to process, while Ripple Payments replaces this with near real-time settlement that operates continuously.
XRP traded near $0.996 on Tuesday, down 0.4% daily and 1.2% over seven days, making it the weakest major token over both time periods. The decline came as Ripple announced its third Korean partnership of the year, with Jeonbuk Bank joining custody and wallet infrastructure deals with Kyobo Life Insurance and Kbank earlier in 2026. According to CoinDesk, the same split between RLUSD and XRP shows on Ripple's own ledger, with tokenized real-world assets worth about $1.38 billion, of which $845 million is RLUSD. The stablecoin accounts for more than three-fifths of everything issued there. Meanwhile, traders are maintaining heavily long futures positions amid increasingly negative social sentiment, with futures open interest at about $2.78 billion this week and more than three accounts holding long XRP positions for every one holding a short on Binance and OKX. Despite the steady run of Ripple partnerships, the token has spent August drifting toward and now through $1, while Ripple has been signing asset managers, custodians and banks. The token's market capitalization stood near $62.4 billion, ranking it sixth among cryptocurrencies.
Large XRP Ledger transactions worth more than $1 million increased 280% within 24 hours, with the total reportedly rising above 38 large transactions, according to crypto analyst Ali Martinez. However, as reported by CryptoQuant, whale transfers to Binance had fallen to their lowest level since 2021, with the three-month average declining to approximately $61 million. CryptoQuant contributor Amr Taha reported that Coinbase's seven-day net wallet count fell to minus 14,300 on August 17, while Binance and Crypto.com also recorded more withdrawing wallets than depositing wallets. XRP derivatives activity also increased, with Binance open interest rising about 28.6% between August 3 and August 17. The Awesome Oscillator stood near minus 0.0630 on the daily chart, showing bearish momentum remains active, while the bull and bear power indicator was negative at approximately minus 0.0377, pointing to limited buying pressure. The $1 level has acted as support for much of the decline, with immediate support sitting around $0.988 and a daily close below that level exposing $0.95, followed by the wider area between $0.85 and $0.90.
