XRP Flips Bitcoin in South Korea; Regulatory ‘Spot-Only’ Gap Fuels $1T Volume
South Korea’s ban on margin trading has turned XRP into a proxy for leverage, driving volumes higher than Bitcoin on Upbit.
The Leverage Gap
XRP has effectively replaced Bitcoin as the primary trading vehicle in South Korea, a discrepancy driven by the country’s strict ban on derivatives. Data released Jan. 2 by Dunamu, operator of the dominant Upbit exchange, confirms XRP generated over $1 trillion in volume throughout 2025, outpacing both Bitcoin and Ethereum on the platform.
The volume dominance is a direct byproduct of South Korea’s “spot-only” regulatory framework. Domestic platforms are legally barred from offering margin trading or futures. Consequently, retail traders seeking leverage have repurposed high-beta assets as synthetic derivatives. XRP occupies the mathematical sweet spot for this strategy: high enough volatility to mimic leverage, yet sufficient liquidity to absorb eight-figure exits without slippage.
The Data: 1 in 4 Koreans
The Dunamu report reveals a market completely decoupled from global norms. While Bitcoin led global volume, XRP consistently captured between 15% and 22% of Upbit’s daily activity. During a peak session in July 2025, the token recorded $1.22 billion in turnover in a single day, eclipsing the entire market cap of many mid-tier L1s.
The user base is equally dense. Upbit now claims 13.26 million cumulative users, roughly 25% of the South Korean population. Demographic data shows the primary drivers are not Gen Z, but traders in their 30s and 40s (52%), a cohort with significantly higher disposable capital than the global crypto average.
The South Korean XRP community is next level. The engagement intensity surpasses that of other major regions.
Tatsuya Kohrogi, Ripple’s Senior Manager of Ecosystem Growth, noted the anomaly during a recent panel. The market’s behavior validates his assessment: Upbit’s XRP/KRW pair frequently dislocates from global prices. On Jan. 15, Upbit recorded a 156% volume spike in a single hour, forcing arbitrage bots to aggressively rebalance against Binance’s USDT pair.
Liquidity as a Feature
For Korean traders, the asset’s utility is purely transactional. Unlike Western holders often characterized by “diamond hand” ideology, Seoul’s market treats XRP as a velocity instrument. The token ($2.08) is currently down 1.9% over 24 hours, yet KRW volume share remains elevated. This dynamic forces global market makers to treat Upbit’s order book as a leading indicator for short-term volatility, rather than a follower of CME futures.
