Analysis of On-chain Activities in the Korean Crypto Assets Market: First Half of 2025

Overview

In the first half of 2025, the activities of cryptocurrency users in South Korea expanded from centralized exchanges to on-chain ecosystems, marking the maturation of the market and the diversification of user participation.

Users exhibit different behavioral characteristics in the Ethereum, Base, and Solana ecosystems:

• Ethereum: Users hold a large scale of assets, maintaining a stable on-chain participation in the mainnet.
• Base: Users gradually increase their participation through decentralized applications.
• Solana: Attracts the most users, has high activity, but has a higher user churn rate.

The project team needs to develop effective marketing strategies through systematic user segmentation, combining qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis.

Overview of On-Chain User Activities in South Korea

Korean users are expanding from exchanges to on-chain activity, marking the gradual maturity of the market. The trading volume on centralized exchanges remains high, but on-chain activity is rapidly growing, forming a multi-layered market structure.

The IXO 2025 event held in January 2025 further confirmed this market shift. The event organizers stated that the number of digital asset investors in South Korea has exceeded 10 million, and the Crypto Assets market has established connections with mainstream audiences.

International participants are beginning to gain a deeper understanding of the participation of on-chain users in South Korea, no longer viewing Korea as an exchange-centric market structure. However, systematically obtaining relevant on-chain data remains challenging.

Analysis of Korean User Characteristics

Event Time

• Ethereum, Base: 9 AM to 11 PM
• Solana: Midnight to 8 AM

Solana users remain active late at night, in stark contrast to other chains. This is because Solana has formed a transaction-centric ecosystem, with most activities aligned with North American time zones.

This indicates that Korean users have a high adaptability to the global market, and their active investment tendencies transcend the scope of time zone adjustments.

Fund Distribution

The distribution of funds across different blockchains is significantly different:

• Ethereum: Total assets approximately $400 million, with a significant proportion held by whales and middle-class accounts.
• Solana: Retail wallets account for 99.9%, while a few whale wallets hold significant assets.
• Base: Attracting medium investors

This indicates that the South Korean market has a diverse user base rather than being concentrated on specific investment tendencies.

User Activity Trends

• Ethereum: The trading volume has remained stable over the long term, and users pay more attention to practical activities.
• Base and Solana: Sensitive to market sentiment and short-term events in trading pairs.

Solana has a high user attrition rate, while Base's active user count is steadily increasing.

dApp Usage

• Solana: Transaction-centric, mainly focused on DeFi trading.
• Ethereum and Base: Users are more actively participating in remittance and deposit activities, with diversified use cases.

Conclusion

Korean users cannot be seen as a homogeneous group; they exhibit the following characteristics:

1. Strong global market adaptability
2. There are significant differences in strategies and investment tendencies on different chains.
3. Show a high interest in incentive-based services

Global projects considering entering the South Korean market need to develop customized strategies that align with user characteristics. Strategy development should prioritize blockchains that are suitable for the target user segmentation. User acquisition and retention require a clear and sustainable incentive structure.

Most importantly, these users should be regarded as partners in the development of the ecosystem, rather than mere users.