South Korea’s on-chain cryptocurrency activity totaled approximately $449.1 billion from July 2025 to June 2026, making it East Asia’s largest market, according to Chainalysis. Japan ranked second at $228.3 billion, followed by Hong Kong at $192.2 billion and mainland China at least $176.3 billion. Combined activity across the four markets totaled roughly $1.19 trillion, compared with an earlier characterization of the regional total as exceeding $1.2 trillion. South Korea’s market grew 12.3%, supported by a 16.3% expansion in its exchange ecosystem and strong retail demand for AI-linked tokens. AI tokens became the most-traded thematic category by won-denominated volume by June 2026, led by Worldcoin at $7.41 billion. South Korea had no crypto-profit tax during the study period, although a 22% tax is scheduled for 2027. China’s peer-to-peer stablecoin activity expanded sharply, with unique wallets sending such transactions growing 43-fold between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026. Hong Kong’s market was distinguished by institutional participation, including $17.4 billion in net institutional inflows since late 2024, while Japan’s decentralized exchanges accounted for 34.5% of activity. The regional split reflects a combination of retail trading depth, regulated institutional infrastructure and peer-to-peer usage.