Ripple has secured its first partnership with a regional bank in South Korea, signing an agreement with Jeonbuk Bank to deploy Ripple Payments for cross-border remittances. The deal enables near real-time settlement for the bank's global business customers, including import-export companies, IT startups, and online content creators.

The partnership replaces traditional SWIFT-based transfers, which typically take days and involve multiple intermediaries, with a system that completes settlement in seconds to minutes. The service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Strategic Expansion in Korea

This agreement represents Ripple's third major institutional partnership in Korea this year, covering distinct segments of the financial market:

• Kyobo Life Insurance: Exploring on-chain government bond settlement.
• Kbank: Deploying institutional wallet infrastructure through Ripple Custody.
• Jeonbuk Bank: Handling cross-border remittances via Ripple Payments.

Together, these deals span custody, payments, and treasury management across Korea's institutional financial sector.

Fiona Murray, Ripple Managing Director for Asia Pacific, stated that regional banks play a vital role in the real economy and that this partnership extends near real-time settlement directly to businesses served by Jeonbuk Bank.

Park Choon-won, President of Jeonbuk Bank, added that the deal positions the bank as a digital finance leader meeting global standards rather than just a regional lender.

XRP Price Action

Despite the corporate developments, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) closed at $0.9943 on Monday, testing the $1 level for the ninth consecutive session. Each retest of the $1 level has landed weaker than the previous one.

Technical indicators show the Parabolic SAR flipped bearish at $1.0271, stacking alongside the 20-day EMA at $1.0283 as immediate overhead resistance. A daily close below $0.98 would confirm a breakdown, while a strong close above $1.03 would delay it.

What the Numbers Show

Ripple's strategy in Korea demonstrates a segmented approach to institutional adoption, with each of its three major partnerships this year targeting a different financial vertical: insurance (Kyobo), digital banking (Kbank), and regional banking (Jeonbuk). This diversification suggests an effort to cover the entire spectrum of institutional financial services rather than focusing on a single banking tier.

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) has probed the $1 level for eight consecutive sessions without a clean break, with sentiment hitting a three-month bearish extreme while on-chain activity surges.

What the Sentiment Data Is Showing

Santiment flagged on X that crowd commentary on XRP across X, Reddit, and Telegram has reached its most bearish reading in three months as prices stall near $1.

At the same time, XRP Ledger active addresses hit 49,929 in a single 24-hour span, the highest level in over two months, after activity had dropped near 2026 lows in early July.

Santiment described the divergence as the counter-signal bulls want to see. Fear is loud but participation is rising, which historically precedes either a sharp recovery or one final flush before a turn.

What Is the ETF Flow Data Showing?

Weekly net inflows into XRP spot ETFs have fallen roughly 85% over three weeks, dropping from $14.86 million on July 31 to just $2.25 million through August 14 according to SoSoValue.

Total net assets declined from $997.25 million to $933.01 million over the same period, meaning price depreciation is outpacing whatever new capital is trickling in.

Trading volume has held relatively steady in the $50 million to $67 million range, pointing to consistent activity despite the weaker inflows.

What the Chart Is Saying

XRP holds at $0.9993 Monday, testing $1 inside a descending channel from May that remains fully intact.

RSI at 36.53 approaches oversold territory, a level that historically precedes either a sharp relief rally or a final capitulation flush.

All four EMAs stack overhead as resistance with nothing meaningful below the $1 demand zone.

Eight consecutive days of attacking $1 without a clean breakdown suggests buyers are fighting hard to defend the level.

The longer the battle drags on, the more the floor weakens. A 20% move is building on whichever side wins.