In its early days, blockchain technology was the playground of “hippies” and libertarians coding on battered laptops and university students mining Bitcoin from their dorm rooms. It was raw, rebellious, and aimed at tearing down the financial order.
Fast forward to today, and the same technology once dismissed as a fringe experiment is being quietly absorbed into the arsenals of global market leaders. The revolution that began in basements and back rooms has walked through the front doors of the corporate world, transforming from a tool of resistance into an engine of adoption.
Nowadays, the market leaders that used to oppose blockchain have been embracing it. Larry Fink’s reversal captures this shift. Once dismissing Bitcoin as a tool for money laundering and speculation, the BlackRock CEO now calls it “digital gold” and has led the world’s largest asset manager into launching a spot Bitcoin ETF. His journey from skeptic to champion mirrors the broader arc of blockchain itself, a technology that began as a rebellion against financial incumbents and is now being folded into their strategies as a source of competitive advantage.
South Korea is currently capitalising on the shift. The South Korean won took the position of most-used currency, topping the US dollar, for trading crypto during the first quarter of 2024, according to research firm Kaiko. The cumulative won trade volume on centralized crypto exchanges during the period recorded $456 billion, while the US dollar reported $445 billion, the data showed.
In 2025, Kaiko’s data shows that KRW-denominated crypto trades have already reached $663 billion, placing KRW as the second most used fiat behind USD, which reportedly sits around $832 billion.
Last week in Seoul, a video of crypto traders trading perpetual futures into an esports-style showdown – complete with big screens, live crowds, and teams battling it out in real time. This signals a significant milestone towards the web3 world with blockchain’s evolution into a foundational layer that makes systems more transparent, and based on shared participation via tokenised incentives, verifiable data and more.
There, everyday actions such as renting portable phone chargers or completing KYC checks are now being logged onto recorded ledgers and tokenised on-chain. Market leaders are using blockchain not as an experiment but as the infrastructure it was intended to be.
Incumbents are testing the waters
Consider South Korea’s power bank sharing sector. One company controls 98% of the market, operating thousands of stations and serving millions of users. With no real competition threatening its position, it could have continued with business as usual. Instead, it began logging millions of charging sessions on-chain in a public pilot.
Piggycell had no competitive pressure to decentralize its network. It already holds a near monopoly in its sector, and major changes like this can be considered a substantial risk. Yet they decided to implement blockchain turning everyday transactions into verifiable data and reward both users and now share profits to charging-station owners with token-based rewards.
The company is exploring whether blockchain can strengthen trust, create new forms of engagement, and even crowdsource expansion capital by allowing individuals to co-own physical infrastructure and thus finance its expansion – A digital franchising expanded beyond fast food restaurants of the Web2 world and into the Internet of Things, from shared EV charging stations to NFT-based UberPasses.
This signals a change in who is experimenting with Web3. In the early years, blockchain was a tool for challengers trying to carve out space against incumbents. Now the incumbents themselves are realising the value that can be brought from data verification, co-ownership, and more, experimenting with decentralization to reinforce their market position.
A broader global pattern
This is not a shift confined to Korea, established firms around the world are making the transition to Web3, integrating blockchain as the best suitor to solve operational challenges.
In early 2024, Fox Corporation launched Verify, a platform that registers and licenses news content. Using blockchain to independently verify and cryptographically sign each article and record its origin and history, confirming that they originate from the trusted publisher they claim to represent. By cryptographically signing each article and recording its origin and history on the blockchain to create a tamper-proof record of original reporting. This is a traditional media company responding to a new problem with a blockchain-based solution.
Industrial players are also actively incorporating blockchain. Siemens is using blockchain to secure supply chain data, protect connected devices, and has even issued digital bonds to make its financing faster and more transparent. While in finance, JPMorgan continues to expand its blockchain network known as kinexys for faster interbank payments.
Even Big Tech is joining this shift. Google has added blockchain-based elements to its confidential computing platform, a step toward verifiable AI models and on-chain proof of computation.
These initiatives are focused on reducing friction, aligning incentives, and creating records that can be trusted without a central authority. Quiet adoption by sector leaders signals that blockchain is maturing into a core infrastructure layer.
Why now
Two forces are driving this change.
The first is regulatory clarity. After years of hesitation, governments are now more open to blockchain-based innovation. South Korea, for example, has granted crypto-related businesses access to tax incentives and venture support. This shift reframes blockchain as a strategic growth area rather than a speculative risk. For established companies, that reduces the downside of experimenting with tokenization and on-chain models.
The second is technological maturity. Modern blockchains can process millions of transactions quickly and at low cost. Interfaces have improved to the point that users can interact with blockchain systems without even realizing it. For consumer-facing businesses, this seamlessness is essential. Customers want reliable services, not lessons in cryptography.
The stakes for the next wave
When market leaders adopt blockchain, they raise expectations across entire industries. If people start earning rewards for charging a phone, sharing bandwidth, or contributing data, they will expect the same from other services. Companies that fail to meet those expectations will risk losing users to platforms that offer more transparency and shared value.
The experiment still carries risk; poorly designed systems can shift the balance away towards their competitors, and yet market leaders are consistently choosing that the benefits of blockchain outweigh the risks. The winners will be those who make participation simple, meaningful, and rewarding.
What is clear is that blockchain is no longer living on the fringes of the economy and is making a major step into the core of how global companies operate. The next phase of Web3 will not just integrate with daily life but decide who controls the value created by our data and participation.
Markus Levin is the co-founder of XYO, with over 15 years of experience in building, growing, and selling companies in high-growth industries around the world. Throughout his career, Markus has been driven by a passion for leveraging data-driven solutions to solve complex problems and maximize institutional potential. His expertise spans multiple industries, with a particular focus on technology, blockchain, and innovation.
Markus mined his first Bitcoin in 2013, igniting his fascination with blockchain technologies. Since then, he has dedicated himself to the exploration of new business models and cutting-edge technologies that empower people and organizations alike. Markus has been instrumental in navigating the intersection of traditional business models and emerging technologies, always with an eye on creating scalable, impactful solutions that benefit society.
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Featured image: Shubham Dhage on Unsplash
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