South Korea is often described as one of the most engaged crypto markets globally. High retail participation, active exchanges, and a dense ecosystem of crypto-native media create the impression of a market where attention naturally translates into adoption. New data from an Outset PR report suggests otherwise.
After analysing media performance in Asia in Q2, Outset PR prepared a separate report comparing crypto media traffic, centralized exchange (CEX) activity, and on-chain usage on KAIA — a Korea-focused Layer 1 blockchain. The report highlights a disconnect: South Korean users consume crypto information at scale, but that attention does not reliably convert into sustained on-chain activity.
A market with exceptional media engagement
According to the report, South Korea accounted for roughly 60% of all crypto media traffic in Asia during Q2. This was not a temporary spike but a stable pattern, supported by strong direct traffic and loyal readership across local outlets.
Unlike Western markets, where discovery is often driven by social media or aggregators, Korean crypto audiences tend to return directly to trusted publications and forums. From a visibility standpoint, this is a strong foundation. Projects that secure coverage in Korean crypto media gain access to a large, attentive audience. However, the data shows that attention alone is not a growth engine.
KAIA’s on-chain surge and collapse
KAIA’s on-chain activity surged sharply in early Q2, peaking in April. New wallets, transactions, and active users all increased at once. On the surface, this looked like traction.
But the report shows that this activity was largely driven by incentive programs, judging by the narratives on KAIA’s X. Rewards and onboarding campaigns successfully pulled users on-chain, but the trend failed to become sustainable.
Once those incentives weakened or ended, activity declined just as quickly. By the end of Q2, KAIA’s on-chain usage had fallen by roughly 90% from its peak. There was no secondary wave of organic demand to replace the incentive-driven users. Therefore, incentives created activity, not retention.
No clear funnel from media to usage
A core question behind the report was whether centralized exchanges function as a bridge between attention and on-chain usage. In theory, media exposure should translate into trading activity, which then feeds on-chain participation. The data shows that this bridge did not form.
CEX trading activity did not track media consumption in real time, nor did it sustain on-chain engagement. Instead, exchange volumes followed a delayed, narrative-driven pattern, reacting to momentum rather than to actual usage on KAIA.
Source: Outset Data Pulse
While media traffic remained consistently high, CEX activity peaked later and declined more gradually. On-chain usage, by contrast, rose sharply during incentive campaigns and collapsed soon after. The timing mismatch across these layers suggests that CEX trading operated as an isolated response to narratives, not as a conversion mechanism.
Rather than connecting attention to adoption, CEX activity exposed the gap between them. It reflected speculative interest, not user migration into sustained on-chain behavior.
What Outset PR Report Says about Korean Crypto Users
The report does not uncover deep psychological or cultural traits, but it does reveal structural behavior:
-
Crypto content consumption is active and habitual.
-
On-chain participation is highly responsive to incentives, but fragile.
-
Trading behavior is narrative-driven, not usage-driven.
These patterns are not uniquely Korean, but the scale and clarity with which they appear in this market make them hard to ignore.
For founders and investors, the implication is uncomfortable but useful: media reach and reward programs are distribution tools, not substitutes for product-market fit.
In a market with some of the highest crypto attention globally, sustainable on-chain usage still depends on one thing — whether users have a reason to come back when rewards disappear.
And in Q2, at least for KAIA, they did not.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.