Key facts
- XRP Asia launched on October 3, 2026, to accelerate XRP Ledger adoption in the region.
- The launch event in Seoul featured representatives from Woori Bank and Kakao Bank.
- Sabrina Tachdjian, formerly of the Hedera Foundation, leads XRP Asia.
- Jeonbuk Bank in South Korea replaced multi-day SWIFT windows with real-time Ripple Payments.
- SBI and Kyobo completed a direct yen-to-won stablecoin transfer pilot.
- Permission Delegation and Batch amendments were activated on XRPL in early October 2026.
XRP Asia officially launched on October 3, 2026, during Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul, with a stated mandate to accelerate the adoption of the XRP Ledger across the region, support developers, and onboard financial institutions. The debut event featured representatives from South Korean banks Woori Bank and Kakao Bank, alongside Ripple's Tatsuya Kohrogi, signaling a focus on regulated finance.
Led by President Sabrina Tachdjian, who brings experience from the Hedera Foundation, XRP Asia aims to move Asian institutions beyond pilot programs into production. This launch is supported by existing deployments, including Jeonbuk Bank in South Korea, which replaced multi-day SWIFT processes with real-time Ripple Payments. Additionally, SBI and Kyobo completed a pilot yen-to-won stablecoin transfer, bypassing the US dollar.
Retail trading activity in South Korea, where XRP has led volume on Upbit, provides a liquid market for institutional development. In Japan, SBI Ripple Asia registered a regulated token issuance platform under the Fund Settlement Act in March 2026, and SBI Holdings is acquiring Bitbank to strengthen its position in the Japanese financial sector.
The launch coincides with two significant protocol upgrades on the XRP Ledger: Permission Delegation, which allows for granular control of account rights without sharing master keys, and Batch amendments, enabling atomic multi-party transactions. These upgrades are seen as crucial infrastructure for institutional use cases like tokenized deposits and cross-border payments.
The XRP Ledger's institutional credibility extends beyond Asia, with Absa in South Africa offering XRPL-based custody and the Bank for International Settlements using XRPL for tamper-proof official statistics. The XRP Ledger Foundation acknowledged Asia as a highly active ecosystem for XRPL, with BankXRP noting that Asia is actively deploying financial rails while regulatory discussions continue in the West.