2025 Blockchain Industry Turning Point: Restructuring Focused on Practicality and Accelerated Entry into the Mainstream
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Restructuring of the Blockchain Ecosystem with a Focus on Practicality
The blockchain industry is reaching a fundamental turning point in 2025. The global blockchain market size has grown by 40%, from $20 billion in 2024 to approximately $28 billion by the end of 2025, with enterprise solutions accounting for 65% of this, shifting the focus from individual investment to corporate use. Notably, while the volume of speculative cryptocurrency trading has decreased by 35% compared to the previous year, actual business use cases have increased by 220%. This change indicates that blockchain technology is finally moving beyond being ‘technology for technology’s sake’ to becoming a practical tool for solving real-world problems.
Coinbase, listed on the NASDAQ and headquartered in California, is a clear example of this change. In the company’s Q3 2025 earnings structure, cryptocurrency trading fees accounted for 52% of total revenue, a significant drop from 78% in the same period the previous year, while revenue from custody services and staking services for institutional clients surged to 23% and 18%, respectively. The number of Coinbase’s institutional clients has increased by 180% compared to 2024, reaching 8,400 companies, with assets under management exceeding $120 billion. This suggests that blockchain infrastructure is evolving from a speculative tool for individual investors to a core financial infrastructure for institutions.
This change is also evident in Korea. Samsung SDS, headquartered in Seoul, announced that its blockchain business revenue in the first half of 2025 surged by 340% year-on-year, reaching 85 billion won. The company’s blockchain platform ‘Nexledger’ is being used for supply chain management solutions by 280 companies domestically and internationally, showing significant results, particularly in food safety tracking and luxury goods authenticity verification. Lotte Group, for instance, has achieved a 95% reduction in counterfeit product distribution by managing its entire distribution process through Samsung SDS’s solution.
Globally, IBM’s ‘Hyperledger Fabric’ based solutions are leading the enterprise blockchain market. IBM’s blockchain-related revenue in 2025 reached $3.2 billion, an 85% increase from the previous year, with supply chain management accounting for 45% and financial services for 35%. Global consumer goods companies like Walmart, Nestlé, and Unilever are managing food safety through IBM’s ‘Food Trust’ platform, which currently involves 25,000 suppliers worldwide.
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and Entry into the Mainstream
The most significant change in the blockchain industry in 2025 is the full-scale introduction of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), 68 out of 130 countries worldwide are developing or pilot testing CBDCs, with 18 countries completing commercialization by 2025. China’s digital yuan (e-CNY) has surpassed a cumulative transaction amount of 850 billion yuan (approximately $120 billion), with an average daily transaction volume of 4.5 billion yuan. Notably, 78% of digital yuan users are utilizing it for everyday retail payments, demonstrating that CBDCs are fulfilling their function as real currency.
The European Central Bank’s (ECB) digital euro project also began pilot services in October 2025 in eight countries. The pilot tests in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, and Ireland currently involve 1.2 million users, with an average daily transaction amount of 230 million euros. The ECB aims for full commercialization in the second half of 2026 and announced plans to invest 3.5 billion euros in building blockchain infrastructure.
The Bank of Korea also expanded its digital won pilot test from August 2025. Moving beyond tests centered on banks and fintech companies, it is conducting a proof test involving 30,000 general consumers. Initial results indicate that P2P remittance time through the digital won has been reduced by 87% compared to traditional internet banking, and transaction fees have been cut by an average of 65%. The Bank of Korea plans to decide on commercialization in the first half of 2026.
This spread of CBDCs is providing new opportunities for existing blockchain companies. Oracle, headquartered in Texas, is experiencing rapid growth in the CBDC infrastructure sector, with related revenue reaching $1.8 billion in 2025, a 240% increase from the previous year. The company’s ‘Blockchain Cloud Service’ is currently used by central banks in 23 countries, providing core infrastructure for Brazil’s digital real project. Oracle’s solution offers scalability to process 100,000 transactions per second, an overwhelming performance compared to Bitcoin’s 7 transactions per second and Ethereum’s 15.
SK Telecom, headquartered in Seoul, is also gaining attention in the CBDC infrastructure sector. The company has secured projects to build CBDCs for the central banks of Mongolia and Cambodia based on its self-developed blockchain platform ‘T Blockchain.’ SK Telecom’s solution combines 5G networks and blockchain for ultra-low latency transaction processing, with an average transaction completion time of just 0.3 seconds, significantly faster than the current credit card processing time of 2-3 seconds.
Expansion of Corporate Adoption and Changes in Investment Patterns
The most notable change in the blockchain market in 2025 is the full-scale adoption by large corporations. Out of the Fortune 500 companies, 342 are operating services utilizing blockchain technology, a 78% increase from 2024. The total investment in blockchain-related projects by these companies amounts to $45 billion, with supply chain management accounting for 35%, financial services for 28%, and data security for 22%. Adoption is rapidly expanding in the manufacturing sector, driven by increasing demands for transparency and traceability in global supply chains.
MicroStrategy, headquartered in Virginia, holds a unique position in blockchain investment. As of the end of 2025, the company holds a total of 175,000 bitcoins, valued at approximately $7.5 billion. Interestingly, MicroStrategy is moving beyond mere bitcoin holdings to develop enterprise blockchain analytics tools. The company’s ‘Crypto Intelligence’ platform supports businesses in analyzing blockchain transaction data to gain business insights, currently used by 850 companies.
In the payment sector, Block, headquartered in California, is gaining attention. Bitcoin transaction volume through the company’s ‘Cash App’ reached $3.4 billion per quarter as of Q3 2025, a 125% increase from the same period the previous year. More importantly, Block has developed an instant payment system based on the ‘Lightning Network.’ This system allows users to transfer funds instantly with a fee of $0.001, with an average daily transaction volume of $120 million. Block’s solution is particularly popular in developing countries, with 23% of all remittances in El Salvador conducted through Block’s platform.
Venture capital investment patterns have also changed significantly. VC investment in blockchain startups in 2025 totaled $8.5 billion, a 15% decrease from the previous year, but the average investment size increased by 67% to $23 million. This indicates that investors are focusing on mature companies with actual revenue models rather than speculative early-stage projects. Notably, investment in the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) sector decreased by 45% compared to the previous year, while investment in enterprise blockchain solutions increased by 180%.
In the Asian market, Japan is showcasing innovative services through its blockchain regulatory sandbox. The Japanese government established ‘Digital Asset Special Zones’ in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka from April 2025, allowing the testing of blockchain-based financial services. Currently, 47 startups are participating in this program, with cumulative investment reaching $1.2 billion. Notably, the blockchain-based inter-company payment system jointly developed by Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and SoftBank has reduced processing time by 95% compared to traditional bank transfers.
Clarification of the regulatory environment is also accelerating corporate adoption. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released comprehensive guidelines for blockchain-based securities trading in June 2025, creating an environment where companies can develop innovative services while complying with regulations. The European Union is also providing an integrated crypto-asset regulatory framework through the ‘Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)’ regulations, facilitating companies’ entry into the European market.
Amid these changes, the blockchain industry is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of 35% through 2026. The enterprise solutions market is projected to grow to $65 billion by 2026, accounting for 70% of the total blockchain market. The maturation of blockchain technology, moving away from speculative characteristics to creating real business value, is expected to drive this growth. However, regulatory uncertainties and technical scalability limitations remain challenges to be addressed, highlighting the importance of continuous innovation in the industry and balanced policy-making by governments.
This analysis is based on publicly available market data and corporate disclosures and is not intended as investment advice. All investment decisions should be made at one’s own risk.
