XRP price is clinging to the $1.00 level today as Ripple expands its institutional footprint in Korea and on-chain signals flash mixed; bearish technicals versus a sudden surge in whale activ
XRP price is clinging to the $1.00 level today as Ripple expands its institutional footprint in Korea and on-chain signals flash mixed; bearish technicals versus a sudden surge in whale activity.
Ripple has announced a partnership with Jeonbuk Bank, which makes it the first regional bank in Korea to deploy Ripple Payments for cross-border remittances. The integration brings near real-time settlement to businesses that have historically relied on SWIFT transfers taking days to complete.
Traditional bank transfers pass through multiple intermediary banks and can take days to process. Ripple Payments replaces this with near real-time settlement, completing in seconds to minutes and operating 24/7. Jeonbuk Bank can now offer faster, more transparent, and cost-effective remittance services to its global business customers, including import-export companies, IT startups, and online content creators.
Fiona Murray, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Ripple, said: “This partnership with Jeonbuk Bank reflects the growing momentum we are seeing across Korea’s institutional financial sector, where leading financial institutions are actively building out their digital asset capabilities and seeking infrastructure partners they can rely on for the long term.”
Park Choon-won, President of JB Jeonbuk Bank, added: “With this partnership with Ripple, JB Jeonbuk Bank is ready to move beyond its role as a regional bank and emerge as a digital finance leader that meets global standards.”
The announcement follows Ripple’s partnerships this year with two of Korea’s most prominent financial institutions – Kyobo Life Insurance, Korea’s largest life insurer, exploring on-chain government bond settlement, and Kbank, Korea’s first internet-only bank, deploying institutional wallet-as-a-service infrastructure. Together, these partnerships demonstrate Ripple’s growing momentum across every segment of Korea’s institutional financial market.
Analyst More Crypto Online weighed in on the current XRP price action as the token hovers near the critical $1.00 level. The dominant feature on the chart is the sequence of lower highs and lower lows, with XRP falling from roughly the $1.25–$1.30 region toward $1.00. The descending yellow trendline reinforces that bearish structure. Nothing visible on this chart has broken that downtrend yet.
Source: X/@MorecryptoonlThe orange horizontal level around **$0.985** is therefore important. Price is sitting almost directly on it at roughly $1.00. The same $0.9859 area has appeared in recent Elliott-Wave commentary as a major Fibonacci support target. But there is a distinction: support does not mean reversal. The analyst says it “could lead to a bounce,” not that the bottom has been confirmed.
If $0.985 holds, a relief bounce becomes plausible. The resistance overhead is divided into roughly:
LevelSignificance$1.03–$1.07First evidence buyers are gaining control$1.10–$1.15More meaningful resistance~$1.19–$1.20Major resistance (bottom of red zone)$1.25+Upper resistanceIf $0.985 breaks, the chart becomes considerably more bearish. The yellow projected trend path eventually runs toward roughly **$0.90** and then $0.82–$0.85. Breaking support could mean XRP isn’t finishing its decline here at all; it may still have a larger impulsive sequence lower to complete.
My read of the chart: Bearish trend + important support + potential relief bounce, but no bullish reversal confirmation yet. The most interesting signal is what happens immediately after the support test. If buyers defend roughly $0.985 and XRP begins reclaiming prior 4‑hour swing highs, the bounce thesis gains credibility. If it spends time sitting on support and repeatedly tests it without generating a meaningful rebound, repeated pressure on the same floor can precede a breakdown.
Read also: Claude AI Predicts What a $5,000 XRP Investment Could Become by 2030
XRP whales are back. Whale activity on the XRP Ledger has exploded over the past 24 hours. The number of transactions exceeding $1 million has surged 280% , climbing to more than 38 large transactions.
$XRP WHALES ARE BACK!Whale activity on the XRP Ledger has exploded over the past 24 hours.The number of transactions exceeding $1 million has surged 280%, climbing to more than 38 large transactions. https://t.co/70eHTdeG8apic.twitter.com/FDEdYzqGl5
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) August 18, 2026
The pump in whale activity indicates that large holders are moving significant amounts of XRP, potentially positioning for a move. This comes as XRP tests the $0.985–$1.00 support zone, adding a layer of on-chain intrigue to the technical setup.
For now, I am watching the $0.985 support level closely. A break above $1.03 would be the first sign of strength. A break below $0.985 would open the door to $0.90 and then $0.82–$0.85. The Ripple news is positive for the long term, but the short-term price action remains uncertain.
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The post XRP Price Near $1.00 as Ripple Expands in Korea and Whale Activity Explodes appeared first on CaptainAltcoin.
