According to the Chainalysis East Asia Crypto Adoption Report, South Korea recorded $449.1 billion in crypto activity between July 2025 and June 2026. This represents a 12.3% increase compared to the previous period, making it the largest market in East Asia.
The growth in South Korea is primarily driven by retail trading on centralized exchanges. AI-themed tokens have become the most traded assets in the country, surpassing XRP. Trading volume for AI tokens in Korean won was 19.5 times higher than in Japanese yen.
The total crypto economy in East Asia reached approximately $1.2 trillion during the period, showing a slight contraction. Meanwhile, Hong Kong saw institutional platform activity grow by 87%, capturing 16% of service inflows.
Japan experienced a 36% increase in activity on decentralized exchanges, which now account for 34.5% of the country's total crypto activity. In China, the number of peer-to-peer stablecoin wallets increased 43 times between Q1 2024 and Q2 2026.
Despite high retail activity, South Korean banks remain cautious regarding digital assets. While they are exploring stablecoins and tokenization, they have not yet made significant capital commitments.
