East Asia’s crypto market cannot be reduced to one regional trend. Chainalysis estimates that South Korea received $449.1 billion in crypto value between July 2025 and June 2026, ahead of Japan at $228.3 billion, Hong Kong at $192.2 billion, China at $176.3 billion and Taiwan at $140.4 billion. The more useful finding is how differently that activity was distributed.
These figures are estimates drawn from Chainalysis data rather than official national accounts. They describe value received during a fixed study period, not the amount of crypto owned by residents or the size of a regulated investment market. Chainalysis also says China’s total may be understated because its prohibition on crypto services limits the observable local exchange activity.
South Korea’s lead came from retail trading
South Korea’s estimated total grew 12.3% from the previous period. Chainalysis attributes much of that rise to exchange activity and retail demand for tokens associated with artificial intelligence. By June 2026, AI-related assets were the largest defined theme in won-denominated trading volume. Worldcoin led that group with $7.41 billion in volume, followed by SAHARA, VIRTUAL, BIO and NEAR.
The comparison does not mean AI tokens represented most Korean trading. Chainalysis notes that its thematic chart excludes hundreds of smaller or unclassified assets. It does show an unusually strong preference: the measured share of AI-token trading in Korean won was 19.5 times the comparable yen rate.
Japan and Hong Kong followed different paths
Japan combined a mature centralized-exchange market with growing use of decentralized exchanges. DEXs accounted for 34.5% of the country’s crypto-service activity during the study period, the highest share among the region’s mature exchange markets. Chainalysis says much of that activity came from retail-sized swaps between $10 and $1,000.
Hong Kong was smaller than Japan by total value but more concentrated in institutional services. Custody providers, prime brokers and market makers helped institutional platforms capture 16% of service inflows, up from about 9% two years earlier. The city also received nearly $24 billion in business-to-business transfers. Those measurements support a picture of Hong Kong as a settlement and services center rather than a retail-led market.
China’s estimate rests on peer-to-peer activity
Chainalysis estimates that peer-to-peer transfers made up 59.1% of China’s crypto economy. Self-custodied stablecoins turned over 33.2 times per year, compared with a 9.3 global average. On average holdings of $3.1 billion, the firm measured $104.1 billion moving across 18.1 million transfers.
The report observes that unique wallets sending stablecoin peer-to-peer transactions increased 43-fold between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026. It discusses expanded social-credit controls as one possible contributor, but calls that connection a working hypothesis. The transaction data establish rapid growth; they do not establish why each user chose stablecoins.
For policymakers and businesses, the regional ranking is therefore only a starting point. South Korea’s retail token demand, Japan’s DEX use, Hong Kong’s institutional flows and China’s peer-to-peer stablecoin activity represent different markets with different regulatory exposure. A single headline total conceals those distinctions.
Adapted from Chainalysis: South Korea Leads East Asia Crypto Economy at $449.1 Billion.