XRP sinks below $1 for first time since 2024 as Korean bank adopts Ripple Payments
XRP's price dropped below $1 for the first time since November 2024, making it the weakest major token, despite Ripple announcing a new partnership with South Korea's Jeonbuk Bank.
Intelligence analysis by Gemini 2.5 Flash
Despite Ripple expanding its institutional partnerships, including a new deal with Jeonbuk Bank for cross-border payments, XRP's price has fallen below $1. This divergence is attributed to Ripple's increasing promotion of its RLUSD stablecoin as the primary settlement asset for these institutional transfers, rather than XRP itself.
Imagine XRP is like a special coin for a fast delivery service called Ripple. Even though Ripple is getting more and more customers, like a big bank in Korea, the XRP coin itself is actually getting cheaper. This is because Ripple is now mostly using a different kind of digital money, called RLUSD, for these big bank deliveries, which is like using a regular dollar bill instead of their special XRP coin. So, even though the delivery service is doing great, the special coin isn't being used as much for the actual deliveries.
Analysis
The recent dip of XRP below the critical $1 threshold, reaching 98 cents, marks a significant moment for the cryptocurrency, as it represents its lowest price point since November 2024. This decline occurs amidst a backdrop of seemingly positive developments for Ripple, the company closely associated with XRP. The article notes that XRP has been the weakest major token over the past day and week, a trend that stands in stark contrast to the company's expanding institutional footprint. Social sentiment surrounding the token has also turned increasingly negative over the past three months, even as traders maintain heavily long futures positions, indicating a speculative bet on a price rebound despite current market signals.
Jeonbuk Bank
Ripple recently announced its third Korean partnership of the year, with Jeonbuk Bank becoming the first regional bank in South Korea to implement Ripple Payments for cross-border transfers. This follows earlier deals in 2026 with Kyobo Life Insurance and Kbank for custody and wallet infrastructure. Jeonbuk Bank, founded in 1969, is a dominant lender in its home province of Jeonju and will now offer near real-time stablecoin cross-border settlement to its business customers, including importers, exporters, IT startups, and online content creators. This service aims to significantly reduce settlement times from days via traditional SWIFT networks to mere seconds or minutes, operating around the clock.
Fiona Murray, Ripple's managing director for Asia Pacific, emphasized that this deal reflects growing momentum within Korea's institutional financial sector, with banks actively seeking long-term infrastructure partners and building digital asset capabilities. She highlighted the vital role regional banks play in the real economy, suggesting a broader trend of digital transformation in the financial sector. However, the crucial detail of which specific asset powers these transfers remains unconfirmed, a point that has significant implications for XRP's role.
RLUSD
The ambiguity surrounding the settlement asset for Ripple's institutional partnerships, particularly with Jeonbuk Bank, is a key factor in understanding XRP's recent price performance. Ripple has spent the past year actively promoting RLUSD, its dollar-pegged stablecoin, as the preferred settlement asset for institutional work. The article points out that tokenized real-world assets on the XRP Ledger are valued at approximately $1.38 billion, with RLUSD accounting for a substantial $845 million, or more than three-fifths of the total. This strong emphasis on RLUSD by Ripple helps explain why a steady stream of new partnerships has not translated into a corresponding uplift for XRP's price. The company's strategic shift towards stablecoins for institutional settlements effectively decouples its business growth from XRP's direct utility in these transactions, leaving XRP's value more susceptible to broader market sentiment and speculative trading rather than fundamental adoption by Ripple's partners.
Key points
- XRP's price fell below $1 to 98 cents, its lowest since November 2024, making it the weakest major token.
- Ripple announced a new partnership with South Korea's Jeonbuk Bank for 24/7 cross-border payments for business customers.
- It is unclear if Jeonbuk Bank's new service will use XRP or Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin for settlements.
- Ripple has been actively promoting its RLUSD stablecoin, which accounts for over three-fifths of tokenized real-world assets on the XRP Ledger.
- Despite negative social sentiment, traders are maintaining heavily long futures positions on XRP, betting on a price rebound.
Ripple's continued expansion into institutional partnerships, such as with Jeonbuk Bank, demonstrates the underlying strength and demand for its payment technology. If these partnerships eventually integrate XRP more directly or if the success of Ripple's ecosystem indirectly boosts confidence in XRP, its price could see a recovery.
The growing reliance on RLUSD for institutional settlements could further diminish XRP's utility within Ripple's core business, leading to a continued decoupling of its price from Ripple's success. This might result in sustained downward pressure on XRP, as its value becomes increasingly driven by speculative trading rather than fundamental adoption.
Market signals
- XRP XRP slipped below $1 despite Ripple's new partnership, suggesting a decoupling from the company's institutional adoption due to the preference for RLUSD.
AI-generated analysis of potential market relevance. Not financial advice.
