The Turning Point of the Blockchain Industry in 2025: New Growth Phase Driven by Accelerated Corporate Adoption and Regulatory Clarity
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Reaching the Critical Point of Corporate Blockchain Adoption
As of the end of 2025, the global blockchain market is experiencing an unprecedented transformation. According to Gartner’s latest report, the global blockchain technology market size has reached $67.6 billion, marking a 73.2% growth compared to the previous year. This rapid growth is qualitatively different from the mere cryptocurrency speculation frenzy. 68% of Fortune 500 companies are already operating blockchain-based solutions in production environments, a significant increase from 41% in 2024.
Notably, the application areas of blockchain technology are diversifying beyond financial services to include supply chain management, digital identity verification, healthcare data management, and intellectual property protection. IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) blockchain platform, IBM Food Trust, currently tracks 23% of the global food supply chain, with major food companies like Walmart, Nestlé, and Domino’s Pizza participating. The platform processes an average of 1.45 million transactions daily, reducing the traceability time for food safety incidents from 7 days to 2.2 seconds.
In the Korean market, blockchain adoption is also accelerating. Samsung SDS (KRX: 018260) recorded sales of 31.2 billion won in 2025 through its self-developed blockchain platform ‘Nexledger’, a 156% increase from the previous year. Samsung SDS’s blockchain division is currently conducting 89 projects across 17 industries, including finance, logistics, and manufacturing, with a notable project ensuring transparency in the automotive parts supply chain in collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group.
The reason companies are actively adopting blockchain technology is due to its clear business value. According to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Blockchain Survey, companies that have adopted blockchain have achieved an average of 18.7% reduction in operating costs, 24.3% improvement in process efficiency, and 31.2% enhancement in data security. In particular, in the financial services industry, cross-border remittance processing times have been reduced from 3-5 days to within 15 minutes, with daily transaction volumes exceeding $13 billion through JP Morgan Chase’s JPM Coin.
Intensifying Competition in Enterprise Blockchain Platforms
In the enterprise blockchain platform market, fierce competition is unfolding among technology companies. Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Azure Blockchain Service is currently utilized by 1,247 companies worldwide, with a monthly transaction processing volume exceeding 3.4 billion. Microsoft is expected to record $2.3 billion in blockchain-related revenue in 2025, accounting for 8.3% of its total cloud service revenue. Azure’s hybrid blockchain solution is particularly praised for its integration with existing enterprise systems, receiving positive feedback from large manufacturers.
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is also showing a strong presence in the blockchain market. The Oracle Blockchain Platform is used by 2,134 companies in 89 countries, particularly strong in supply chain management and financial services. Oracle’s blockchain-based trade finance platform processes an average of $4.7 billion in transactions monthly in the Asia-Pacific region, reducing document processing times from 15 days to 3 days. Oracle’s blockchain division is projected to achieve $1.8 billion in revenue in 2025.
Consulting firm Accenture (NYSE: ACN) holds a unique position in the blockchain implementation services sector. Accenture’s blockchain consulting and implementation services revenue is expected to reach $3.1 billion in 2025, accounting for 4.7% of its total revenue. Accenture’s blockchain-based digital identity management solution has become an essential tool for GDPR compliance in the European Union, attracting significant interest from European companies.
Meanwhile, in the Asian market, China’s Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud are emerging as strong competitors. Alibaba’s Blockchain as a Service processes 23 million transactions monthly within China, with increasing applications in e-commerce and logistics. Tencent’s TBaaS (Tencent Blockchain as a Service) platform is building unique competitiveness through integration with its ecosystem in gaming, social media, and fintech.
In this competitive landscape, it is noteworthy that companies are developing industry-specific solutions beyond mere technology provision. For example, IBM focuses on food safety and supply chain transparency, Microsoft on financial services and government sectors, and Oracle on manufacturing and trade finance. This specialization strategy is interpreted as an important indicator of the maturity of the blockchain market.
Improvement in Regulatory Environment and Institutional Acceptance
One of the most significant changes in the blockchain industry in 2025 is the improvement of the global regulatory environment. The European Union provided a clear legal framework for blockchain-based services through the ‘Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)’ regulation, implemented in June 2025. As a result, blockchain startup investments in Europe increased by 234% year-on-year, reaching €18.7 billion, with a surge in company establishments in Germany and France.
In the United States, the regulatory approach to blockchain technology has also significantly improved. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released the ‘Blockchain-Based Securities Trading Guidelines’ in March 2025, providing clear standards for companies on securities issuance and trading using blockchain. Consequently, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange are accelerating the adoption of blockchain-based trading systems, pursuing projects to reduce settlement times from T+2 to T+0 (real-time settlement).
The Korean government is also implementing proactive policies to foster blockchain technology. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the ‘Blockchain-Based Digital Government Innovation Plan’ in 2025, pledging to invest a total of 340 billion won by 2027 to convert 80% of government services to blockchain-based systems. Blockchain-based services are already being piloted in areas such as real estate registration, academic certification, and medical record management, with an average satisfaction score of 4.3 out of 5 from the public.
China is leading the large-scale practical application of blockchain technology through its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project, the Digital Yuan. As of 2025, the daily transaction volume of the Digital Yuan has reached 15.6 billion yuan, with official services in 26 major cities. Successful use cases at the Beijing Winter Olympics and Hangzhou Asian Games are influencing other countries’ CBDC adoption.
The Japanese government is actively utilizing blockchain technology as part of the ‘Society 5.0’ project. Particularly in disaster response and supply chain management, systems leveraging blockchain’s transparency and immutability are being established, with a budget of 280 billion yen allocated for 2025. Major Japanese companies like SoftBank, NTT, and Fujitsu are also accelerating the development of blockchain-based solutions in line with government policies.
The improvement of the regulatory environment is having a significant impact on companies’ blockchain investment decisions. According to PWC, blockchain investments in countries with clear regulatory frameworks are on average 3.7 times higher than in countries without. This demonstrates that institutional environments are as crucial as technological factors in the spread of blockchain technology.
In particular, the expansion of regulatory sandbox systems in the financial services sector is accelerating innovation. The success rate of blockchain fintech companies participating in the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory sandbox is 78%, with cumulative transaction volumes exceeding £34 billion. Korea’s Financial Services Commission is also expanding the number of companies participating in the regulatory sandbox by 45% in 2025, supporting the commercialization of blockchain-based innovative services.
As of the end of 2025, the blockchain industry is evaluated to have entered a full-fledged popularization phase, with both technological maturity and institutional acceptance rising simultaneously. Unlike the early days when it was perceived as a speculative asset, blockchain is now positioned as a core infrastructure and essential technology for securing corporate competitiveness. If this growth trend continues for the next 2-3 years, blockchain technology is expected to fully establish itself as a routine corporate infrastructure, akin to the internet or cloud computing. However, the complexity and implementation costs of the technology, along with the remaining regulatory uncertainties, remain challenges to be addressed, with careful approaches and phased adoption strategies being key to success for companies.
*This analysis is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment solicitation or advice. Investment decisions should be made at one’s own discretion and responsibility.*
