XRP Seoul 2026 Draws 5,000, Marks Official Launch of XRP Asia

Asia’s largest XRP conference, XRP Seoul 2026, drew more than 5,000 attendees and concluded on Oct. 3 at Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan, XRPL Korea said on Oct. 6.

Held during Korea Blockchain Week 2026 with Upbit, the event was hosted by XRPL Korea with Ripple serving as title sponsor. Attendance increased from about 3,000 last year to more than 5,000 this year. Entry tickets were issued as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, on the XRP Ledger, or XRPL.

Ripple President Monica Long attended, along with Christina Chan, senior director of ecosystem growth at Ripple, and Ayo Akinyele, senior director of engineering at Ripple. More than 40 speakers took part, including Johann Kerbrat, senior vice president at Robinhood, Ashish Birla, chief executive officer of Evernode, and Alex Toh, managing director at SC Ventures, as well as South Korean financial-industry officials.

In a session with Chan, Long said Ripple is conducting a credit-related pilot aimed at launching next year. The company plans to use XRP as collateral to fund part of customers’ payment financing needs. Akinyele introduced new XRPL features in development, including zero-knowledge-proof-based confidential transfers and infrastructure for artificial intelligence agents.

The event also featured the official launch of XRP Asia, an independent organization backed by Ripple and the XRP Ledger Foundation. Headquartered in Singapore, the group plans to support developer education, hackathons and startup grants across Asia-Pacific as it works to expand the XRPL ecosystem.

Sabrina Tachjian, president of XRP Asia, said the group will support established communities such as XRPL Korea and XRPL Japan while also building new communities across Asia-Pacific.

Participants from South Korea’s financial sector included Woori Bank, KakaoBank, K Bank, Kyobo Securities, Meritz Securities and Jeonbuk Bank. They discussed practical applications for tokenized deposits, stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, or RWA, and blockchain-based cross-border remittances. KakaoBank outlined a direction to integrate basic digital-asset services into its core banking system starting in 2027. Meritz Securities emphasized the need for regulatory clarity to help expand the won stablecoin market.

Robinhood highlighted tokenized stocks and the potential for round-the-clock trading. Kerbrat said 70% of the company’s trading volume occurs on weekends and at night. “24-hour tokenized stock trading would be an amazing change,” he said. Blockchain can reduce settlement delays in traditional financial markets and improve trading infrastructure.

Eighteen companies from South Korea and overseas, including Doppler Finance and Kweather, also participated as sponsors. On the night of the event, a beam projection commemorating XRP Seoul was displayed at N Seoul Tower.

An XRPL Korea official said the gathering underscored strong interest in the XRP ecosystem, with more than 5,000 community members attending this year after about 3,000 last year. The official added that XRPL Korea will continue using XRP Seoul to connect the global XRPL ecosystem with South Korean financial institutions, companies and developers, with the aim of turning those discussions into partnerships and services.