The Turning Point of the Blockchain Market in 2025: New Growth Drivers Led by Practicality and Regulatory Clarity
Editor
Paradigm Shift in the Blockchain Market: Growth Centered on Practicality
The blockchain industry in 2025 is experiencing a clear turning point. According to the latest report by Gartner, the global blockchain market size reached $89.2 billion in 2025, a 47% increase from the previous year, marking the highest growth rate since 2021. Notably, this growth is driven not by cryptocurrency speculation but by practical enterprise solutions and government-led digital infrastructure development. Deloitte’s 2025 Global Blockchain Survey revealed that 73% of responding companies classified blockchain as a “strategic priority,” a significant increase from 53% in 2023.
The key drivers of this change are the clarity of the regulatory environment and the improvement in technological maturity. With the full implementation of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in December 2024, blockchain companies received clear operational guidelines, and a comprehensive digital asset framework is expected to be introduced in the U.S. in the first half of 2025. In South Korea, the ‘Digital Asset Basic Act’ announced by the Financial Services Commission will be enforced from July 2025, signaling a green light for domestic blockchain companies to expand their businesses. Samsung SDS, based in Seoul, announced that its blockchain business revenue increased by 89% year-on-year, reaching 234 billion won, thanks to this regulatory clarity.
In the enterprise blockchain solution market, supply chain management and digital identity verification sectors are particularly prominent. IBM’s Food Trust platform, based in New York, is currently used by over 350 food companies worldwide, with transaction volume in the first half of 2025 increasing by 156% compared to the same period last year. Microsoft, based in Washington, is also supporting the digital transformation of corporate clients through its Azure Blockchain Service, with the number of platform-using companies growing by an average of 12% per month in 2025. With increasing adoption in the manufacturing and logistics industries, the overall enterprise blockchain market size is expected to reach $23.4 billion in 2025.
The development and adoption of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are acting as another key driver of growth in the blockchain market. According to the 2025 CBDC status report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), 134 countries are currently participating in CBDC research and development, with 44 countries in the pilot testing phase. As of November 2025, China’s digital yuan has surpassed a cumulative transaction amount of 1.8 trillion yuan (approximately $252 billion), with an average daily transaction volume of 34 billion yuan. The European Central Bank (ECB) also plans to complete the preparation phase of the digital euro project by the end of 2025, with a total budget of 1.3 billion euros allocated for this purpose.
The Bank of Korea’s digital won project is also making significant progress. The second pilot test, which began in September 2025, involves eight major domestic banks and 15 fintech companies, with an average daily test transaction volume of 28 million won. Naver Financial, a subsidiary of Naver based in Gyeonggi Province, has invested a total of 18 billion won in developing a digital won wallet service, while Kakao Pay, also based in Gyeonggi Province, announced an investment of 14 billion won in related technology development. The increase in CBDC-related investments is significantly enhancing the technological capabilities and market competitiveness of domestic blockchain companies.
Technological Innovation and Performance Improvement: Emergence of Next-Generation Blockchain Infrastructure
The most notable feature of blockchain technology advancement in 2025 is the simultaneous improvement of scalability and energy efficiency. Following Ethereum’s complete transition to Proof of Stake, the network’s energy consumption decreased by 99.95%, and the average transactions per second (TPS) increased from 15 to 65. The development of Layer 2 solutions is also noteworthy. The daily transaction volume of the Polygon network averaged 4.8 million in 2025, a 73% increase from the previous year, and the total value locked (TVL) of rollup technology-based solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism exceeded $28 billion.
The development of quantum-resistant blockchain technology to counter quantum computing threats is also accelerating. Oracle, based in Texas, launched a blockchain database solution with quantum-resistant encryption technology in the first half of 2025, receiving positive feedback from early adopters. According to research by Accenture, based in New York, the quantum-resistant blockchain market size is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2030, with related patent filings increasing by 234% compared to the previous year. These technological advancements ensure the long-term security of blockchain, promoting adoption by financial institutions and government agencies.
The advancement of interoperability technology is also playing a crucial role in expanding the blockchain ecosystem. Cross-chain transaction volume through the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol of the Cosmos ecosystem has grown by an average of 28% per month in 2025, and 47 independent blockchains are currently connected to Polkadot’s parachain network. This improved connectivity between networks allows users to seamlessly utilize multiple blockchains, significantly enhancing the liquidity and usability of the entire blockchain ecosystem.
There have also been significant advancements in the field of privacy protection technology. Solutions utilizing Zero-Knowledge Proof technology are entering the practical stage, with blockchain applications emerging that satisfy both privacy protection and transparency. The use of Zero-Knowledge Proof technology is increasing, particularly in healthcare data management and identity verification, with the related market size growing by 89% year-on-year to $1.8 billion in 2025. In South Korea, Samsung SDS is promoting the commercialization of its healthcare data platform ‘Nexledger’ using Zero-Knowledge Proof technology and is currently conducting pilot projects with 12 major general hospitals domestically.
The maturity of Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) governance systems has also significantly improved. As of 2025, there are 2,340 DAOs worldwide with total assets exceeding $1 million, with a combined asset size of $18.7 billion. The average governance participation rate of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols increased by 8 percentage points to 23% compared to the previous year, indicating that the democratic decision-making structure of the blockchain ecosystem is gradually stabilizing. In the case of Uniswap, the proposal approval rate by governance token holders is 78%, and the average voting participation rate remains high at 31%.
Market Segmentation and Investment Trends: Capital Shift Towards Practicality
The blockchain investment market in 2025 is showing clear segmentation trends. An analysis of venture capital investment data reveals that the enterprise blockchain solution sector accounts for 42% of total investments, representing the largest share, followed by infrastructure and development tools at 28%, and DeFi and Web3 applications at 30%. This contrasts with 2023 when DeFi accounted for 61% of total investments, indicating a shift in market focus from speculative nature to practical value creation. The total investment size reached $14.2 billion in the first half of 2025, a 23% increase compared to the same period last year.
In the enterprise solution sector, supply chain tracking and digital identity management solutions are receiving the most active investments. Chainlink’s enterprise data oracle service has formed partnerships with 89 Fortune 500 companies in 2025, with data transaction volume averaging 230 million transactions per day. In South Korea, LG CNS mediated a total of 3.4 million tons of carbon credit transactions in the first half of 2025 through its blockchain-based carbon credit trading platform ‘Monachain,’ a 156% increase compared to the same period last year.
Investment in technology related to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) is also surging. Ripple Labs announced a total investment of $400 million in 2025 for CBDC solution development and is currently conducting pilot projects with central banks in 15 countries. In South Korea, Kakao has invested 24 billion won through its blockchain subsidiary GroundX in developing CBDC wallet technology, with related patent filings increasing by 78% compared to the previous year. This increase in investment is expected to grow the CBDC technology market size by 134% year-on-year to $6.7 billion in 2025.
The NFT (Non-Fungible Token) market is moving away from the overheated trend of 2021-2022, focusing on practical applications. While NFT transaction volume in 2025 decreased by 34% year-on-year to $8.9 billion, transactions for practical uses such as game items, digital identity verification, and intellectual property protection increased by 67%. The use of NFTs is particularly expanding in the gaming industry, with NCSoft’s ‘Lineage W’ recording an average monthly transaction volume of 4.5 billion won through NFT-based game item trading. Netmarble also achieved total sales of 28 billion won in the first half of 2025 through its NFT-based game ‘Meta World: My City.’
The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem is focusing on regulatory compliance and strengthening user protection features. The total value locked (TVL) of all DeFi protocols was $124 billion as of November 2025, a 42% decrease from the peak in 2021, but stability and transparency have significantly improved. With the active introduction of smart contract security audits and insurance products, losses from hacking incidents decreased by 73% compared to the previous year. Uniswap V4 introduced a new fee structure and gas fee optimization features, reducing transaction costs by an average of 35%, with daily transaction volume maintaining an average of $1.8 billion.
The sustainability of blockchain technology is also emerging as an important factor in investment decisions. As ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investment criteria are strengthened, blockchain projects using energy-efficient consensus mechanisms are receiving more attention. The Solana network, using a proof-of-stake mechanism, consumes 99.9% less energy compared to Bitcoin while processing 65,000 transactions per second, receiving high evaluations from institutional investors. In South Korea, the Korea Electric Power Corporation has built a blockchain platform for renewable energy certificate trading, mediating a total of 1,200 MW of renewable energy certificate transactions in the first half of 2025.
The overall outlook for the blockchain market in 2025 is dominated by cautious optimism. As speculative bubbles are removed, projects that create tangible value are coming to the forefront, and the increased clarity of the regulatory environment is attracting more institutional investors. According to McKinsey’s latest report, the economic value of blockchain technology is expected to reach $1.7 trillion annually by 2030, with the supply chain management and identity verification sectors projected to create $962 billion and $224 billion in value, respectively. In the Korean market, the government’s K-Digital New Deal policy and the implementation of the Digital Asset Basic Act are expected to grow the blockchain industry size to 12 trillion won by 2030, four times the current size, providing new growth drivers for the entire domestic IT service industry.
This content is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment solicitation or advice. Investment decisions should be made at the individual’s discretion and responsibility.
