XRP slides below $1 despite bank deal

TLDR

XRP (XRP) is trading around 1 USD after briefly slipping below that level even as Ripple secures a new cross-border payments deal with South Korea's Jeonbuk Bank.

1. Jeonbuk Bank will use Ripple Payments for faster cross-border business remittances, but the announcement does not confirm any use of XRP or RLUSD in settlement.
2. XRPs price remains weak around 1 USD, with recent dips below that level and a large share of XRP Ledger activity shifting toward Ripples RLUSD stablecoin.
3. The next key signals are whether Jeonbuk or other banks explicitly adopt XRP for settlement and whether price holds above support zones near 0.98 and potentially 0.850.65.

Deep Dive

1. Bank Deal Without Confirmed XRP Use

Ripple has partnered with South Koreas Jeonbuk Bank to implement Ripple Payments for cross-border transfers, promising settlement in seconds to minutes and 24/7 availability for business customers such as import?export firms and tech startups. This makes Jeonbuk the first Korean regional bank to adopt the service and is Ripples third major Korean institutional deal in 2026, expanding its footprint in payments, custody and wallets across the market.

However, neither Ripple nor Jeonbuk has stated that these flows will be settled in XRP or RLUSD; coverage notes that the announcement leaves the choice of settlement asset open and omits corridors and volumes, meaning there is no verified new demand for XRP yet. That is a critical distinction for token holders expecting every banking partnership to translate directly into XRP usage.

2. Why XRP Is Not Rallying

Market data shows XRP near 1 USD, slightly up over 24 hours but negative over the week, consistent with reports that it fell below 1 USD and became one of the weaker large?cap tokens despite the Jeonbuk news. One detailed analysis argues that institutional adoption has focused on RLUSD rather than XRP, noting that tokenized real?world assets on the XRP Ledger total about 1.38 billion USD, with roughly 845 million USD in RLUSD, more than three fifths of that total.

At the same time, derivatives positioning is heavily long, with billions in open interest and a long?to?short ratio above three on major venues, which can make spot price sensitive to any downside shocks instead of grinding higher on news alone.

3. Levels And Catalysts To Watch

Technical commentators flag 1 USD as a psychological line, with resistance around 1.03 USD and a breakdown signal if daily closes hold below about 0.98 USD. One view outlines an accumulation zone lower down, with a possible 20 to 40 percent drawdown toward roughly 0.85 to 0.65 USD before a larger trend can rebuild.

On the fundamental side, the most important catalyst would be a clear statement that Jeonbuk or other banks are using XRP itself for settlement, not just Ripples software or stablecoin, alongside transparent corridor and volume data. Absent that, price action is likely to follow broader market conditions, RLUSD growth and regulatory developments rather than single partnership headlines.

Conclusion

Ripples Jeonbuk Bank deal is a genuine step forward for its payments network, but it stops short of confirming new XRP usage. With RLUSD absorbing much of the institutional flow and XRP hovering around 1 USD after slipping below, the gap between corporate partnerships and token demand remains wide. For now, watching settlement?asset disclosures and how XRP behaves around the 1 USD and sub?1 USD support zones is more informative than the headline alone.