China’s P2P stablecoin wallets surge 43x despite crackdown

6.6 Stablecoins

Oct 5, 2026

China's P2P stablecoin wallet activity surged 43-fold from Q1 2024 to Q2 2026, moving $104.1B in a year. P2P now makes up 59.1% of China's $176B crypto economy, despite strict regulations.

Chainalysis reports a dramatic rise in the number of unique wallets sending peer-to-peer (P2P) stablecoin transactions in China, increasing 43-fold between Q1 2024 and Q2 2026 despite ongoing regulatory restrictions. From July 2025 to June 2026, $104.1 billion was transferred through 18.1 million self-custodied stablecoin transactions. The annual turnover rate for these holdings reached 33.2 times, significantly higher than the global average of 9.3. This suggests that stablecoins in China are primarily used as working capital rather than as stores of value. Domestic P2P activity now accounts for 59.1% of China’s estimated crypto economy, valued at a minimum of $176 billion by Chainalysis. This share is 3.5 times higher than the previous year, highlighting a substantial gap between regulatory frameworks and actual crypto activity in the region.