XRP Crushes Upbit Volume as Meme Coins Hijack Crypto Spotlight in 2025
Move over, Bitcoin—XRP just flipped the script on Upbit. The Ripple-backed asset now commands the lion's share of trading volume on South Korea's top exchange, while meme coins stage a guerrilla takeover of retail portfolios.
Meme Mania Meets Institutional Darling
While degens pile into Shiba Inu 3.0 and Pepe 2.0 derivatives, XRP's liquidity dominance reveals a market split straight out of Wall Street's playbook: institutions park money in 'serious' crypto while retail chases the next 100x meme. Some things never change—not even in decentralized finance.
The irony? Both camps are betting against traditional finance while replicating its worst habits. XRP bulls tout regulatory clarity as their trump card, conveniently forgetting the SEC's ongoing scrutiny. Meme traders scream 'DYOR' between leverage-fueled panic buys. Meanwhile, actual blockchain builders keep shipping code—assuming they can find devs who aren't day-trading.
One thing's certain: when the music stops, the exchanges always win. Just ask Upbit's fee revenue.
- XRP led Upbit trading with $549.76M volume, capturing 17.12% of total activity.
- Meme coins like BONK and DOGE outpaced several large-cap assets in short-term volume.
- Ethena, Babylon, and Moo Deng joined Upbit as top gainers posted double-digit price increases.
XRP led trading activity on Upbit over the past 24 hours, recording $549.76 million in volume. The XRP/KRW pair traded at $2.09, making up 17.12% of the platform’s total exchange volume. Despite a 28.1% drop in overall activity, Upbit registered a trading volume of $3.21 billion, with XRP contributing the largest share. The token’s continued presence at the top spot points to strong engagement among South Korean traders focused on KRW pairs.
#XRP leads Asia again!
$549M+ in 24h volume on Upbit
Total market volume: $3.21B
XRP alone makes up 17.1% of the entire volume!
Asia’s about to pump — are you ready?
pic.twitter.com/iDfE1eEJtK
Upbit remains one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Asia by spot volume. While most assets saw reduced participation, XRP maintained a leading position across all listed pairs. Its consistent volume shows that demand for XRP trading has remained steady, even during broader pullbacks. The exchange’s trust score stands at 8 out of 10, indicating continued confidence in its trading environment.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Show High Volume, but Meme Coins Surge
Behind XRP, Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) ranked second in volume, trading at $0.0137 against the Korean won. The asset attracted $215.21 million, representing 7.84% of the total trades on the platform. ethereum (ETH) posted higher volume than Bitcoin during the period, with the ETH/KRW pair logging $248.49 million in trades at a price of $3,091.45.
Bitcoin (BTC), however, came in third in terms of trading volume. The BTC/KRW was sold at a price of the $92,987.69 and a volume of 213.82 million. There was more activity in meme-inspired and mid-cap tokens in the session. Strike (STRIKE), at the price of 7.44 USD, recorded the volume of 203.59 million dollars. A meme-based token, BONK, had an average of 0.00004225 and led to a volume of 213 million, 6.62% of the whole market volume. Another asset called Dogecoin (DOGE) had a price of 0.1220 and $190.89 million worth of volume.
New Listings and Top Gainers on the Platform
Newly listed tokens on Upbit include Ethena, Babylon, and Moo Deng. Ethena traded at $0.3527, Babylon at $0.5026, and Moo Deng at $0.1348. Each listing showed recent price movements and was marked with the “Recently” tag, indicating fresh activity within the exchange’s listing pool.
The strongest gainers over the 24-hour period were CoW Protocol, which climbed 22.5%, followed by Ethereum Name Service, which rose 19.7%, and CYBER, which posted a 16.7% gain. Sei (SEI), priced at $0.3696, completed the top nine list, registering $85.93 million in volume. While total market activity on Upbit declined, XRP held its lead in trading volume, with meme coins gaining notable traction across Korean won pairs.
