China's P2P stablecoin wallets grew 43-fold since2024, Chainalysis finds
Stablecoin activity in China is growing faster than almost anyone expected, even though the country still restricts crypto trading. The number of unique wallets sending peer-to-peer (P2P) stablecoin transactions in China rose 43-fold between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026, according to blockchain analytics company Chainalysis.
P2P means one wallet sends money directly to another wallet, without a trading platform in between. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to keep a fixed value, usually by holding money like the US dollar or another national currency in reserve. A wallet is the software account a person uses to hold and send these tokens.
The growth comes at a time when Chinese authorities have tightened rules. In February, they introduced new rules targeting stablecoins pegged to the yuan and tokenized versions of real-world assets such as property, according to Cointelegraph.
The numbers behind the 43-fold increase
- Unique wallets sending P2P stablecoin transactions in China: up 43-fold from Q1 2024 to Q2 2026.
- $104.1 billion moved across 18.1 million transfers involving self-custodied stablecoin holdings in China, recorded over the 2026 reporting period of July 2025 to June 2026. Self-custodied means the holder keeps the keys to the wallet themselves rather than leaving the funds on a platform.
- China's crypto economy is worth at least $176 billion, according to Chainalysis's estimate.
- Domestic P2P activity made up 59.1% of that total, about 3.5 times its share in the 2025 reporting period.
- March 2026 brought the largest monthly increase in domestic stablecoin transfer volume shown in the report, at $4.9 billion.
Stablecoins are being used like business money
Chainalysis found that stablecoin holdings in China turned over 33.2 times a year. The global average is 9.3, so Chinese stablecoins moved several times more often than stablecoins elsewhere. The company said this pattern is consistent with people using stablecoins as working capital, meaning money kept for paying and receiving payments rather than for long-term saving.
The report also points to a shift in how crypto moves inside China. The increase in wallet-to-wallet transfers suggests activity is moving away from traditional trading platforms and toward direct transfers between wallets.
How the rest of East Asia compares
Chainalysis ranked South Korea as East Asia's largest crypto economy at $449.1 billion, growing 12.3% from the previous period. The company said South Korean retail traders showed a strong preference for AI-linked tokens.
Hong Kong stood out for institutional activity. Institutional platforms accounted for 16% of service inflows, nearly three times the share of any regional neighbor, and the city received almost $24 billion in inbound business-to-business flows. Hong Kong issued its first stablecoin licenses in April.
In Japan, decentralized exchanges, which let users trade directly with each other without a central platform, accounted for nearly 35% of service activity, the highest share among mature East Asian markets. Chainalysis said 65.7% of these swaps were between $10 and $1,000, and that decentralized exchange activity has risen more than 200% since 2022. Japanese lawmakers passed revisions in July that place digital assets under the country's financial-markets framework.
What is confirmed and what is not
The figures above come from a new Chainalysis report and are estimates produced by the company using blockchain data, which is public and recorded permanently on the underlying network. They are not official Chinese government numbers, and the report is the single source behind all of them.
The supplied reporting does not explain how Chainalysis decides a wallet belongs to China, how many separate people those wallets represent, or which stablecoins are included. It also does not explain what is driving the growth beyond the company's observation that usage looks like working capital. No Chinese authority is quoted in the source, and there is no confirmation of how the February rules are being enforced.
Why the growth pattern matters
The main point for readers is the gap between policy and actual use. Rules restrict crypto trading in China, yet measured wallet-to-wallet stablecoin activity rose sharply over the same period. Chainalysis's data also shows a different pattern from the rest of East Asia: where Hong Kong leaned on institutions and Japan on decentralized exchanges, China's growth is concentrated in direct transfers between self-held wallets, used at a much higher frequency.
Chainalysis describes that frequency as typical of payment and business use. Whether sustained growth in direct wallet transfers will continue, or how regulators respond, is not addressed in the source.
Sources
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.