Author: JE Labs
Compiled by: Glendon, Techub News
As a core region of the global cryptocurrency ecosystem, Asia accounts for 70% of global cryptocurrency liquidity and has 60% of the world's cryptocurrency users. However, there are significant differences among Asian countries in terms of market environment, regulatory policies, and user behavior, making it crucial to gain a deep understanding of the characteristics of each country and region.
This article will deeply analyze the characteristics of the Asian market, providing strategic guidance for ecosystem builders looking to expand their business in the region. The article covers the following core modules: Overview of the Asian Market, User Behavior Preferences, Major Market Analysis, Key Market Entry Strategies, Analysis of Specific Asian Countries, and How to Successfully Enter the Asian Market.
Overview of the Asian Market
CEX-Dominated Market Structure
37.1% of global centralized exchange (CEX) traffic comes from Asia, ranking first in the world; mainstream centralized exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Upbit form the core liquidity centers, and Asian users heavily rely on these exchanges for trading, as they are also the main platforms for discovering new projects.
Market Driving Factors
Demand for Financial Inclusion: In regions with underdeveloped financial infrastructure, such as Indonesia and Vietnam, crypto assets have become a key tool for achieving financial inclusion;
Young Investors with High Yield Preferences: The younger demographic in Asia has a higher risk tolerance, driving the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) and meme coins;
Regulatory Disparities: Different regulations create varied adoption rates, with strict regulations in mainland China and South Korea, while Hong Kong and Singapore implement cryptocurrency-friendly policies.
Future Trend Predictions
Firstly, the process of compliance will accelerate, as Hong Kong and Singapore become compliant cryptocurrency asset centers, undoubtedly promoting the transparency process across the Asian market; secondly, clearer regulations will attract traditional financial institutions, further driving the development of DeFi and RWA (real-world asset) tokenization. Additionally, the growing demand for cross-border payments, digital payments, and value storage scenarios will also promote the widespread use of stablecoins. In terms of the expansion of DeFi, GameFi, and SocialFi, the adoption rates of decentralized exchanges (DEX) and lending protocols are expected to continue rising, with Southeast Asia having the potential to become the fastest-growing region in Web3 gaming and social finance.
User Behavior Preferences
Airdrops: Analysis of Asian User Behavior
After an airdrop, most Asian traders tend to engage in short-term arbitrage, quickly selling off tokens after they are unlocked, leading to significant price volatility. Their sources of airdrop information are primarily community-driven, focusing on private community dissemination and sharing, such as WeChat, Telegram, Discord, and X.
The trading behavior characteristics of these traders include frequent small transactions and rapid sell-offs. Before an airdrop, traders interact with multiple wallets using small amounts of funds to increase their chances of receiving the airdrop; within a few hours after the airdrop release, there is often a surge in trading volume for the airdropped token, which typically results in a price drop. This can be validated by the timezone effect, where the GMT+8 timezone (Asia) often experiences the earliest sell-off pressure.
Meme Trading: The Frenzied Speculation of Asian Users
As mentioned earlier, Asian cryptocurrency traders heavily rely on KOLs and community-driven insights and are easily influenced by FOMO (fear of missing out). Therefore, if a meme coin becomes popular, these investors will quickly pour funds into it, driving up the token price in the short term. During this process, traders mostly implement highly speculative short-term strategies, with trading logic centered around the principle of "buy low, sell high," with common strategies including: early entry, quick profit-taking, and trend-following swing trading based on community movements.
Data shows that Asia is the largest market for GMGN (a website combining meme coin data dashboards and trading tools), with 19% of its traffic coming from Chinese users, highlighting the strong interest of Chinese investors in Solana meme coin trading.
Major Market Analysis
China: A Highly Active but Regulated Market
Despite strict policy restrictions, over 59 million Chinese users hold crypto assets; over-the-counter (OTC) trading remains active, with Hong Kong serving as a key gateway for capital inflows and outflows via stablecoins. Additionally, there is strong demand from Chinese users for high-yield products like Curve and Aave, with an active DeFi and DEX ecosystem. In terms of information dissemination, investors rely heavily on private communities (such as VIP paid groups) and recommendations from cryptocurrency KOLs, leading to a herd effect.
South Korea: A Strictly Regulated Trading-Driven Market
South Korea ranks among the top in global cryptocurrency trading volume and has been referred to as a "crypto trading powerhouse," with Upbit holding over 80% of the market share in South Korea. South Korean investors show a clear preference for CEX trading and have low participation in DEX, although the NFT market is relatively active. Notably, meme coins and altcoins are extremely popular in South Korea, especially Solana meme coins, which attract a large number of South Korean investors.
In terms of regulation, South Korea passed its first cryptocurrency asset regulatory framework, the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act," in July 2024, which imposes stricter requirements on digital asset exchanges. Crypto exchanges are required to store at least 80% of user deposits in cold wallets to separate user deposits from the exchange's own funds. Additionally, exchanges must entrust user cash deposits to locally licensed banks for safekeeping and hold cryptocurrency reserves equivalent to the quantity and type of customer deposits.
On the other hand, South Korea will introduce mechanisms to limit token listing volatility and institutional investor access rules by 2025. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced that it will release comprehensive cryptocurrency investment guidelines before the third quarter of this year, allowing institutional investors to invest in crypto assets. These guidelines will regulate cryptocurrency investments by institutional investors, listed companies, and non-profit organizations, indicating that South Korea will lift the ban on institutional investors investing in crypto assets.
Japan: A Compliance-Driven Long-Term Investment Market
Unlike South Korea, Japanese investors strongly prefer Bitcoin, the NFT market, and long-term investments. Due to strict regulations and an institutionally dominated market, speculative behavior among Japanese investors is reduced. Additionally, cryptocurrency KOLs and communities play an important role in Japan, especially as NFT culture has deeply integrated with local traditional culture (such as anime culture).
Thailand: A Market with High Cryptocurrency Adoption and Friendly Regulations
Thailand's cryptocurrency penetration rate (the proportion of cryptocurrency users in the total population) is as high as 21.96%, surpassing Vietnam and Indonesia, and the country once ranked tenth in the global cryptocurrency adoption index. Thai investors have strong demand for DeFi, primarily leaning towards investments in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Local exchanges dominate the market, with the largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bitkub, holding over 70% market share.
In terms of regulation, Thailand maintains a supportive compliance attitude, including defining cryptocurrencies, regulating cryptocurrency exchanges, and legalizing stablecoins. The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recognized USDT and USDC as legal cryptocurrencies as of March this year. Furthermore, Thailand plans to launch a cryptocurrency regulatory sandbox program in Phuket by October 2025, focusing on stablecoin applications.
Malaysia: An Institutionally-Oriented Market
According to Malaysia's strict regulatory framework, all cryptocurrency activities must obtain official approval. Among investors in the country, high-net-worth and institutional investors dominate, with the latter favoring Bitcoin, stablecoins, and the DeFi market. The main exchanges in the country are Luno (a regulated local exchange) and Binance.
Asia Crypto Markets Comparison by JE Labs
Key GTM Strategies
The GTM (Go-To-Market) approach is a business strategy aimed at planning how a company will bring its products or services to market and attract customers. The key to successfully promoting Web3 projects in the Asian market lies in precise localization strategies and community penetration.
Firstly, localization is key to opening up the Asian market. Since Asia is not a single market but a composite of multiple cultures, languages, and regulatory environments, market entry strategies need to be tailored to the cultural and regulatory environments of each country. For example, localized narratives should use content that resonates with local users and is easy to disseminate. In terms of information dissemination, content localization is equally important, requiring precise translation and adjustment of information to fit local user habits. Social media channels vary by region: China (WeChat, Weibo), South Korea (KakaoTalk, Naver), Japan (Line, CoinPost), and Southeast Asia (TikTok).
Secondly, in terms of regional ecosystem integration, Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Japan have high acceptance of GameFi and NFTs, making them ideal locations for gaming and NFT-related projects; China is very suitable for fintech and DeFi applications, while Hong Kong and Singapore can serve as compliance gateways. Additionally, project issuers need to segment users, as different markets require different ICPs (Ideal Customer Profiles), such as institutional clients (B2B), retail investors (B2C), and developers (B2D).
Community-driven approaches are central to gaining user trust, including community-driven trust building and expanding market influence through KOLs:
Deep Local Integration: Regular engagement, active community participation, and long-term trust building;
Early User Incentives: Distributing NFTs or airdrop incentives to maintain user stickiness and loyalty;
Continuous Engagement: Organizing AMAs, consistently producing content, and maintaining high community activity;
Collaborating with KOLs: Local KOLs have significant influence, and collaboration can enhance credibility, combining tweets, community marketing, and KOL partnerships to accurately target users.
Analysis of Specific Asian Countries and How to Enter the Asian Market
China: Precise Positioning and Growth of Private Traffic
Utilize Hong Kong as a compliance gateway to connect global and mainland markets;
Collaborate with KOLs to enhance influence through WeChat community traffic.
South Korea: Trading-Driven, CEX is Key
Listing on local CEXs (especially Upbit) will change the game and directly impact market trust;
Build communities on KakaoTalk and Telegram, and collaborate with KOLs to increase project visibility;
Media exposure is more important than community management, as the former can enhance credibility.
Japan: User Experience and Institutional Preferences as the Main Focus
High-net-worth users prioritize UX/UI experience and local NFT culture over airdrops;
Utilize well-known media such as CoinDesk Japan and CoinPost to expand influence;
Collaborate with Web3 institutions like Bitget Wallet to reach target users.
Southeast Asia: Huge Potential for DeFi and GameFi
Indonesia: P2E and airdrop-based viral growth strategies are most effective.
Vietnam: A developed Web3 gaming ecosystem, making it an ideal choice for deepening GameFi expansion.
Thailand: Transparent policies and abundant DeFi opportunities, suitable for localized promotion.
Philippines: The token economy is highly integrated with gaming and pop culture, leading to a high adoption rate of NFTs.
Malaysia: The adoption rate of DeFi is continuously growing, with significant potential in stablecoins and the lending market.
In summary, to expand into the Asian market, project issuers must anchor the right target market and define their ICP, with a key focus on accurately implementing localization strategies and community penetration, as well as gaining a deep understanding of regulatory policy directions and communication channels. For example, China, South Korea, Japan, and Thailand primarily consist of trading users, while Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia, is more suitable for DeFi, GameFi, and P2E growth strategies, with Hong Kong and Singapore serving as compliance gateways and capital flow channels for projects. It is important to note that in the context of generally longer lifecycles for Web3 projects, building long-term effective community relationships is far more effective in retaining users than short-term hype.
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