South Korea Tops East Asia Crypto Market

Analysis results showed that the domestic digital asset economy scale reached $450 billion over the past year, surpassing China and Japan to become the largest in East Asia. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI)-related digital assets accounted for about 18% of total Korean won trading.

According to the East Asia Crypto Adoption Report released by blockchain data platform Chainalysis on Oct. 6, the scale of South Korea’s digital asset economy from July last year to June this year was $449.1 billion, increasing by 12.3% compared to the same period last year. This is the largest scale in East Asia, exceeding Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. Digital asset activity through domestic exchanges also increased by 16.3% during the same period.

Along with this, as of June this year, the share of AI-related digital assets in Korean won digital asset trading was the highest among major themes. It also exceeded the trading share of payment tokens such as XRP.

Interest in AI-related assets stood out even when compared to other currency zones. The share of AI-related assets in Korean won trading reached 19.5 times that of Japanese yen trading. The share of AI-related assets in Brazilian real, British pound, and euro trading also fell below that of Korean won trading.