XRP Asia officially launched on October 3, 2026, debuting with a live session at the Grand Hyatt Seoul during Korea Blockchain Week. The newly formed regional body aims to accelerate XRP Asia Ledger adoption across the region, support builders, and onboard traditional financial institutions.
The organization is led by President Sabrina Tachdjian, formerly the Vice President of Fintech and Payments at the Hedera Foundation. The inaugural event featured representatives from Woori Bank and Kakao Bank alongside Ripple’s Tatsuya Kohrogi.
The debut follows several regional deployments. South Korea’s Jeonbuk Bank implemented real-time Ripple Payments to replace multi-day SWIFT windows, while SBI and Kyobo completed a direct yen-to-won stablecoin transfer pilot. Additionally, South Korea's Upbit has recorded significant retail XRP trading volume, providing 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 agreed to acquire Bitbank.
Protocol upgrades coinciding with the launch include the Permission Delegation and Batch amendments entering the early-October activation window on the XRP Ledger. Permission Delegation allows accounts to grant narrowly scoped rights without sharing master keys, aligning with bank-style separation of duties. Batch enables grouped transactions to settle or fail together, supporting atomic multi-party flows.
Global adoption milestones further support the ledger's institutional standing. South Africa’s Absa became the first African bank to offer XRP Ledger-based custody, and the Bank for International Settlements utilized the ledger to anchor official statistics.
