Ripple’s XRP experienced a massive surge in trading activity on the Upbit exchange after South Korea’s Hana Financial Group announced a major investment in Dunamu, the company behind Upbit. The XRP-KRW trading pair recorded over $330 million in 24-hour volume, surpassing Bitcoin and Ethereum on the platform. This spike came after Hana Bank agreed to purchase a 1 trillion won stake in Dunamu, marking the largest bank investment in a cryptocurrency exchange to date. The strategic partnership aims to create a bridge between traditional banking and the crypto sector, with Hana Financial TI already trialing a won-backed stablecoin on the XRP Ledger. Despite the volume surge, XRP’s price retreated from a high of $1.55 to $1.45 due to options expiry pressures and rising US Treasury yields. The deal is part of a broader trend in South Korea, where institutional interest in XRP is growing, with Ripple recently partnering with Kyobo Life Insurance for government bond tokenization. Retail traders in Korea continue to favor XRP, contributing to its standout performance in the 2026 crypto rally. Meanwhile, XRP spot ETFs in the US have attracted record inflows, adding further momentum.