Ripple USD (CRYPTO: RLUSD) support on South Korea’s largest crypto exchange could pave the way for broader XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) Ledger adoption as on-chain data shows XRPL wallet adoption continues to rise.

Upbit Enhancing RLUSD Integration

In an X post on July 28, XRPL validator Vet highlighted Upbit’s recent support for RLUSD deposits and withdrawals on the XRP Ledger, alongside Korean Won, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) trading pairs.

The integration is significant because Upbit reportedly holds more than 6.4 billion XRP, making it one of the largest XRP custodians globally and a key gateway for South Korea’s large XRP community.

"Upbit has now the infrastructure to support any XRP Ledger-issued assets and opens the door to more integrations," Vet noted.

Rather than focusing solely on RLUSD, Vet argued the infrastructure could eventually enable broader XRP Ledger functionality, including tokenized assets and native financial services.

Lending Feature Could Unlock Idle XRP

Vet pointed to the XRP Ledger’s upcoming native lending and borrowing feature as a potential catalyst.

If adopted by exchanges such as Upbit, the feature could allow users to earn yield on billions of XRP held on the platform without relying on external smart contracts.

"They could unlock for their users the over 6 billion XRP to earn yield, all native, secure and without smart contract risk on the XRP Ledger," Vet said.

He added that RLUSD has already helped deepen XRP Ledger integration with major platforms and institutions, creating additional opportunities for future ecosystem expansion.

Santiment Sees Adoption Growing

Blockchain analytics platform Santiment reported that XRP Ledger recently surpassed 8 million non-empty wallets, joining Ethereum’s (CRYPTO: ETH) USDC network in reaching the milestone.

The firm said rising non-empty wallet counts generally indicate growing network participation, even if individual addresses do not necessarily represent unique users.

Santiment also noted that ETH recently crossed 200 million non-empty wallets for the first time, while Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK) exceeded 900,000.

XRP’s wallet growth reflects increasing adoption as platforms continue expanding use cases despite relatively flat market performance.

Image: Shutterstock