XRP has out-traded bitcoin on South Korea's Upbit exchange every day for a month, and on Sept. 21 it pulled in $350 million in volume against bitcoin's $225.8 million. The token also climbed about 19% on Upbit over the same week, even though no XRP-specific "kimchi premium" has shown up in the price.
XRP Outpaces Bitcoin for 30 Straight Days
XRP drew $350 million, about ₩481 billion, in trading volume on Upbit on Sept. 21, ahead of bitcoin on the same exchange. Bitcoin trailed with $225.8 million, or ₩308 billion, in Sept. 21 volume. Upbit's candle data shows XRP out-traded bitcoin in won terms every day from Aug. 23 through Sept. 21, 30 for 30, and it led again in the first hours of Sept. 22.
The margins swung widely. On Aug. 23, XRP drew $418 million to bitcoin's $93.1 million, a 4.5x lead. On Sept. 15, the day the CLARITY Act failed its Senate cloture vote, XRP still churned $368 million as its Upbit price sank to $1.28, more than three times bitcoin's $118 million. Korean traders didn't step away when XRP fell that day — they traded it harder.
Upbit's scale matters here: a Kaiko Research report found the exchange handled about 70% of South Korea's crypto volume through 2025. Upbit is also one of XRP's largest custodians, appearing 11 times among the top 40 XRP wallets with a combined 6.424 billion XRP in July.
Korean Retail Leans Into XRP
Korean retail demand appears to be behind the shift. XRP climbed about 19% on Upbit, from $1.28 on Sept. 15 to $1.52 at the Sept. 21 close, touching $1.53 intraday.
Globally, XRP was trading at $1.52 at press time, up 6% in 24 hours, following an 8.7% jump that trader Peter Brandt tied to a $5.40 chart target. The wider market helped too, with a short squeeze lifting bitcoin's price above $87,000 before it eased to about $85,270. XRP rode the same wave, but Korean traders were leaning into it far harder than into bitcoin itself.
No Kimchi Premium Yet
Heavy Korean demand usually pushes won prices above global prices, a gap known as the kimchi premium. That hasn't happened this time: XRP sits at $1.519 on Upbit, a touch under the $1.52 global price, while bitcoin showed roughly a 2% discount.
With both assets marked down by just a shade, the gap reflects the won rather than an XRP-specific frenzy. Heavy volume with no premium suggests Koreans are flipping XRP back and forth in size, not queuing to buy it at any price — a more durable kind of activity than a premium-fueled spike, though a less explosive one.
Source: Bitcoin News
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