The Turning Point of Blockchain Industry Practicality in 2025: New Growth Drivers Led by Enterprise Adoption and Regulatory Clarity
Editor
As of November 2025, the global blockchain market is experiencing a fundamental paradigm shift. Unlike the past, which was dominated by cryptocurrency price volatility, companies are making substantial investments, focusing on the practical applicability of blockchain technology. According to market research firm Gartner, the global blockchain market size is expected to reach $67.5 billion by 2025, a 68.4% increase from the previous year. Notably, the enterprise blockchain solutions sector is leading the growth, accounting for 42% of the total market.
The backdrop to this change is the strategy of major companies internalizing blockchain technology. South Korea’s Samsung SDS (018260) announced the global expansion of its blockchain-based supply chain management solution ‘Nexledger’ in the first half of 2025, setting an annual sales target of 50 billion won. This represents a 340% increase from the same period last year, indicating a sharp rise in corporate demand for blockchain solutions. Samsung SDS is attempting to differentiate itself with customized solutions that meet traceability requirements in the automotive, pharmaceutical, and food industries.
In the U.S. market, Coinbase (COIN:US) is making a mark in the blockchain infrastructure business focused on institutional investors. As of the third quarter of 2025, Coinbase’s institutional client asset custody exceeded $135 billion, an 89% increase from the same period last year. As traditional financial institutions accelerate the adoption of digital assets, Coinbase has established a new revenue structure, with custody service fees accounting for 34% of total revenue. This marks a shift from the previous model reliant on transaction fees to a stable revenue source.
Expansion of Enterprise Blockchain Practicality
As the adoption of blockchain technology in enterprise environments becomes full-fledged, companies are realizing specific business values such as enhanced transparency, security, and efficiency. According to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Blockchain Survey, 73% of respondent companies classified blockchain as a “strategic priority,” a significant increase from 61% in 2024. Particularly, there are increasing cases of achieving tangible ROI in areas such as supply chain management, identity verification, and smart contract automation.
Walmart’s food tracking system is considered a representative case of blockchain practicality. As of 2025, Walmart operates a blockchain-based tracking system for 95% of major foods sold in its 25,000 stores worldwide. This system reduced the time to identify the cause of food safety incidents from 7 days to 2.2 seconds, achieving an annual cost-saving effect of approximately $120 million. In the romaine lettuce contamination incident in October 2025, the blockchain tracking system identified the contamination source within 24 hours and selectively recalled only the affected products, minimizing the impact on the entire lettuce supply chain.
The adoption of blockchain in the financial services sector is also accelerating. JPMorgan Chase’s (JPMorgan Chase) blockchain payment network ‘JPM Coin’ surpassed a daily transaction volume of $10 billion in 2025, playing a crucial role in inter-institutional payments. This represents a 156% increase from the same period last year, demonstrating a 75% reduction in payment processing time and a 40% reduction in fees compared to the traditional SWIFT system. It shows high utilization in trade finance among Asia-Pacific region companies, with noticeable participation from Korean companies.
In the real estate industry, blockchain-based asset tokenization is gaining attention as a new investment model. Singapore’s real estate tokenization platform ‘Proppy’ achieved a cumulative tokenized asset size of $4.5 billion in 2025, lowering the average minimum investment amount to $10,000, 1/100th of traditional real estate investment, expanding participation from small investors. Interest in real estate tokenization is also rising in Korea, with financial authorities expanding related regulatory sandboxes.
Regulatory Clarity and Institutional Support
One of the most significant changes in the blockchain industry in 2025 is the establishment of regulatory frameworks by major governments. Following the full implementation of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) in December 2024, blockchain companies can operate under clear regulatory standards. As a result, blockchain startup investment in Europe in the first half of 2025 increased by 127% year-on-year, reaching 3.4 billion euros. Fintech companies, particularly in Germany and France, are actively developing blockchain-based payment services and digital asset management solutions.
In the United States, the Blockchain Technology Advancement Act passed in June 2025, with a total of $2.5 billion to be invested in federal blockchain technology research and development over the next five years. This bill particularly promotes the use of blockchain in the public sector, with major government agencies such as the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Homeland Security building blockchain-based systems. The Department of Defense expects to save $1.5 billion annually by introducing blockchain into the supply chain management of military supplies.
The Korean government also announced the creation of a blockchain ecosystem as a core task of the ‘Digital New Deal 2.0’ policy in 2025. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that a total of 1.2 trillion won would be invested in blockchain technology development and demonstration projects from 2025 to 2027. The main goal is to enhance the security and transparency of e-government services by expanding the use of blockchain in public service areas. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced plans to gradually introduce blockchain into key public services such as resident registration, real estate registration, and academic certification from the second half of 2025.
China has set a goal to increase its blockchain technology self-sufficiency to 95% through the ’14th Five-Year Plan for Blockchain Industry Development’ by 2025. The Chinese government is particularly focusing on expanding the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) and plans to establish BSN nodes in 200 cities worldwide by the end of 2025. Currently, over 120,000 blockchain applications are operated through BSN, with a daily transaction processing volume of 5 million. This is interpreted as part of China’s strategy to preempt global blockchain infrastructure standards.
The positive effects of regulatory clarity are leading to increased corporate investment. According to blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, venture capital investment in global blockchain companies in 2025 increased by 89% year-on-year, reaching $15.6 billion. Investments in enterprise solutions and infrastructure accounted for 67% of the total, showing a clear shift from speculative to technology-based investment. In Korea, investment in blockchain startups is also becoming active, with cumulative investment exceeding 890 billion won in the first half of 2025.
However, regional differences in the regulatory environment still act as an obstacle to the global expansion of blockchain companies. Particularly concerning data privacy regulations, differing standards such as GDPR and CCPA continue to conflict with the immutable nature of blockchain. As a result, multinational blockchain projects are in a situation where they must incur additional costs to develop region-specific solutions. Industry experts are continuously raising the need for international blockchain regulatory standards, with discussions underway at the G20 level.
In the blockchain infrastructure sector, the role of hardware companies is becoming increasingly important. NVIDIA (NVDA:US) announced that its revenue from GPUs for blockchain and cryptocurrency mining in 2025 increased by 145% year-on-year, reaching $8.7 billion. Despite Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS), demand for various layer 2 solutions and new blockchain networks continues to grow. AMD (AMD:US) also announced a $2 billion investment in developing blockchain-specific chipsets, intensifying competition with Intel (INTC:US). Intel plans to improve energy efficiency by 40% compared to existing models through its ‘Blockscale’ 2nd generation chip, scheduled for release in the second half of 2025.
Institutional investors are also accelerating the incorporation of blockchain assets. As of November 2025, MicroStrategy (MSTR:US) holds a total of 185,000 bitcoins, equivalent to approximately $18 billion in market capitalization. MicroStrategy’s bitcoin investment strategy is influencing other companies, with major firms like Tesla and Square increasingly holding digital assets as part of their financial strategy. As the value of bitcoin as an inflation hedge is reassessed, traditional financial institutions are also expanding digital asset investment products.
The outlook for the blockchain industry in 2025 can be summarized as a new growth phase combining technological maturity and institutional support. With the speculative frenzy subsided, blockchain technology is focusing on solving real business problems and building a sustainable growth model. Innovations in various areas such as enterprise solutions, DeFi, NFT practicality, and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) are expected to accelerate the digital transformation of the entire industry. However, challenges such as technological scalability, energy efficiency, and user experience improvement remain, and companies that address these issues are expected to take the lead in the next-generation blockchain ecosystem.
Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or solicitation. Investment decisions should be made at one’s discretion and responsibility, and there may be risks of loss when investing in the mentioned companies or technologies.
