San Francisco-headquartered blockchain firm Ripple has tapped into its war chest in order to launch a new fund that is meant to promote the XRP Ledger in Japan and South Korea. 

The company has tapped into its 1 billion XRP war chest in order to support this new initiative. Ripple initially committed the aforementioned sum to various XRPL projects in April. 

According to Ripple executive Emi Yoshikawa, the fund will entail tens of millions of dollars over time for corporate partnerships investments, investments, and developer grants. 

Yoshikawa believes that Japan and South Korea have emerged as "pivotal" regional hubs for blockchain innovation.

Ripple has long been a major force in the Asia–Pacific (APAC) region. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has repeatedly praised Japan for its XRP-friendly regulations and even floated the idea of moving the company's global headquarters to Japan. 

In April, Ripple expanded its presence in Japan by teaming up with Tokyo-based HashKey DX. 

In May, SBI VC Trade, the cryptocurrency trading platform of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, started running its validator on the XRP Ledger. Yoshikawa described this as a "huge move" for the XRP Ledger. 

Projects from Japan and South Korea also managed to secure funding during the seventh wave of the XRPL Grants program.