This report, written by Tiger Research, analyzes the on-chain activities of Korean users in the Ethereum, Base, and Solana ecosystems during the first half of 2025.
Key Points
In the first half of 2025, Korean cryptocurrency users expanded their activities from centralized exchanges to on-chain ecosystems. This shift marks market maturity and diversification of user engagement.
Korean users hold significant Ethereum assets and maintain stable mainnet participation. Base users gradually increase engagement through decentralized applications (dApps). Solana attracted the most users with high activity. However, Solana experienced a higher user churn rate due to fatigue from short-term events (such as meme coin and meme launch platform conflicts).
Korean cryptocurrency users exhibit different behavioral characteristics across various blockchains, defying a single characterization. Projects need to develop effective market strategies through systematic user segmentation, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis.
1. Overview of Korean On-Chain User Activities in the First Half of 2025
Korean users have begun gradually expanding from exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb to on-chain activity, a phenomenon signaling market maturity rather than a temporary trend.
While centralized exchange trading volumes have always been high, on-chain activities are rapidly growing, creating a multi-layered market structure that is no longer solely exchange-centric. Recognizing this point will help further develop market strategies.
[The rest of the translation follows the same approach, maintaining the specified translations for specific terms and preserving the original formatting and structure.]First, Korean users demonstrate strong global market adaptability. The early morning activity on Solana indicates their participation transcends time zones, with users eager not to miss global crypto market opportunities, their behavior unrestricted by geography, and in sync with the global cryptocurrency ecosystem's rhythm.
Second, strategies and investment tendencies show clear differentiation across different chains. The same group of Korean users are conservative investors on Ethereum, focusing on stability; on Solana, they become speculative investors pursuing high returns; on Base, they exhibit moderate tendencies. This strategic differentiation forms a hierarchy based on investment purposes and risk preferences. Users optimize participation strategies according to each ecosystem's characteristics and culture, which also illustrates that Korean users are a complex group.
Third, users show high interest in incentive-based services. They actively participate in these services, with Kaito's rapid rise on Base being a prime example. Korean users actively engage in revenue activities through token staking and reward systems. On-chain data confirms this trend, with Kaito separately listing Korean users on its leaderboard, and some projects expanding reward pools specifically for Korean users, validating these observations.
Global projects considering entering the Korean market need to develop customized strategies that align with user characteristics. Korea is a balanced market without bias towards specific stages or types.
Strategy development should prioritize blockchain selection suitable for target user segments. Korean users exhibit significant differences in expectations and behaviors across different chains.
Operationally, providing services based on North American time zones will not cause major issues, and global operational systems can be incorporated into long-term expansion plans.
User acquisition and retention require clear and sustainable incentive structures. Korean users are highly sensitive to token staking and reward systems, responding more positively to long-term participation structures, with short-term activities proving less effective.
Most importantly, these users should be viewed as ecosystem development partners, not mere users. This report aims to provide practical assistance for related strategy development.
