Asheesh Birla, the CEO of $XRP treasury company Evernorth, recently shared observations that portray South Korea as a mature digital asset market, particularly for $XRP.
Reflecting on last week’s Bitcoin Seoul conference, Birla revealed that $XRP surpassed Bitcoin as one of the most actively traded cryptocurrencies in the country.
Birla emphasized $XRP’s strong presence in the Korean market, noting that the $XRP/KRW trading pair consistently ranks among the most active markets on Upbit, the nation’s largest crypto exchange.
According to Birla, $XRP periodically generates more trading volume than Bitcoin and Ethereum during intense market activity. Consequently, South Korea has cemented its reputation as one of the deepest and most liquid $XRP markets in the world.
$XRP Outperforms Bitcoin and Ethereum in Upbit’s Trading Volume
Notably, market data supports Birla’s 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.
By comparison, BTC/KRW and ETH/KRW occupy the fourth and seventh positions, respectively, with volumes of $72.48 million and $43.02 million.
Korean Financial Giants Are Moving Into Crypto Infrastructure
Beyond $XRP’s popularity, Birla disclosed that an even more significant transformation is unfolding behind the scenes. According to him, 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. He stated that Hana is pursuing investments related to Upbit, while Mirae Asset has reportedly acquired a significant stake in Korbit.
He explained that the developments suggest Korea’s biggest financial institutions are buying their way into exchanges, rather than building around them.
Tokenization Dominated Discussions at Bitcoin Seoul
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 finality, institutions are evaluating blockchain networks based on their 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.
As previously reported, 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.
Meanwhile, 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.
