Upbit, South Korea's dominant cryptocurrency exchange, reported weekly trading volume of 11.2 trillion won, approximately $8 billion, marking a 6.74% increase from the previous week.
XRP led trading activity on the platform for the reporting period, followed by Bitcoin in second place and USDT in third. The exchange's trading hierarchy reflects a pattern of XRP/KRW pairs consistently outpacing BTC/KRW pairs in daily and weekly rankings over the past year, as Korean traders predominantly transact in won-denominated pairs rather than routing through dollar-based stablecoins.
Trading volumes on Upbit have experienced significant volatility, with single-day peaks reaching as high as $3.81 billion and representing increases of over 270% during periods of heightened activity. XRP has captured the largest share of volume during these spikes.
Operated by Dunamu, Upbit maintains the leading position among South Korean exchanges, with its closest domestic competitor being Bithumb. The platform has historically noted 12 to 13 million registered active users.
The trading data illustrates the divergence between local and global cryptocurrency markets. While XRP ranks outside the top two by global market capitalization, it routinely competes with Bitcoin for the top trading position on one of Asia's most active exchanges. Strong local demand for XRP/KRW pairs can support price levels and reduce volatility in ways that may not be visible when observing only dollar-denominated order books on Western exchanges.
