Chainalysis data reported by Cointelegraph shows unique wallets sending peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions in China increased 43-fold between Q1 2024 and Q2 2026, with activity increasingly shifting toward direct wallet-to-wallet transfers.
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Chainalysis found that unique wallets sending peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions in China grew 43-fold between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026. The figure refers to sender-side wallets, not total transaction value, so it measures how many separate addresses initiated such transfers. Cointelegraph reported the data on October 5, 2026. The growth occurred even as China maintains broad restrictions on crypto trading and exchange services. This makes the wallet count a notable indicator of how usage patterns can change when formal channels are closed.
Since 2021, Chinese regulators have banned domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, trading services, and crypto mining, citing financial stability and capital-flow risks. Payment providers and banks are prohibited from supporting crypto transactions, which pushed most visible activity away from centralized platforms. Wallet-to-wallet transfers and peer-to-peer arrangements are harder to police because they do not necessarily touch a regulated intermediary. Stablecoins, designed to track fiat currencies, have become a common medium in such transfers. This background helps explain why P2P stablecoin wallet activity could expand despite the official bans.
Chainalysis said crypto activity in China is increasingly shifting toward direct wallet-to-wallet transfers, where one wallet sends tokens directly to another and settlement occurs on a blockchain rather than through an exchange order book. That structure reduces reliance on centralized platforms that may require identity checks or have been shut out of the market. The 43-fold rise in unique sending wallets suggests the sender base broadened, rather than only a small number of addresses accounting for more activity. At the same time, the metric does not show total volume, average transfer size, or whether the same users are transacting repeatedly. This distinction matters for interpreting how widespread the activity actually is.
Blockchain analytics firms like Chainalysis track public ledger data to estimate flows between wallets and services. When activity moves to direct wallet-to-wallet transfers, exchanges and banks become less useful as monitoring choke points, complicating compliance efforts for authorities trying to enforce capital controls and crypto restrictions. The reported 43-fold increase in unique wallets highlights the difficulty of measuring activity solely through regulated venues. It also underscores why stablecoins remain a focus for policymakers in China and elsewhere, given their role in cross-border and peer-to-peer value movement. The data is a snapshot of on-chain behavior and does not include off-chain agreements or cash settlements that may accompany such transfers, based on public news sources.
Chainalysis found that unique wallets sending peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions in China grew 43-fold between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026. The finding, reported by Cointelegraph on October 5, 2026, tracks sender-side wallets rather than total transaction value. It indicates that crypto activity in China increasingly shifted toward direct wallet-to-wallet transfers.
China has banned domestic crypto exchanges and trading services since 2021, so formal on-ramps and order books are largely unavailable. P2P transfers allow users to send stablecoins directly between wallets without relying on a centralized domestic platform. That makes such activity harder to monitor through banks or exchanges, which is why the growth in unique wallets draws attention from blockchain analytics firms.
No. The 43-fold figure refers to unique wallets sending P2P stablecoin transactions, not the total value or volume transferred. The metric also does not reveal average transfer size, repeat usage by the same users, or off-chain settlement. Transaction volume could therefore have changed by a different amount.
The 43-Fold Increase in Wallet Activity
China's Restrictive Crypto Framework
Why Wallet-to-Wallet Transfers Matter
Monitoring and Compliance Implications
This article is rewritten from public news sources and further processed by AI. It is provided for information only and does not constitute investment advice — refer to the original source for the authoritative version.
Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to maintain a stable value, often pegged to a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar. In peer-to-peer transfers, they can be sent directly from one wallet to another without an exchange order book. Their price stability makes them more predictable for transfers than cryptocurrencies whose values can fluctuate sharply.
The data comes from public blockchain activity, so it may not capture off-chain agreements, cash settlements, or the identities behind wallets. Unique wallet counts can also overstate the number of distinct users because one person may control multiple wallets. In addition, the metric does not measure total transaction value, leaving the economic scale of the activity unclear.
