[Digital Today reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] The number of wallets used for peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions in China rose 43-fold from the first quarter of 2024 to the second quarter of 2026. A clear trend is emerging in which crypto transactions in China are shifting from exchanges to wallet-to-wallet transfers, Cointelegraph reported on Oct. 5 local time.

Chainalysis, in a new report, tallied a sharp increase in wallets used for P2P stablecoin remittances in China over the period. The company said that from July 2025 to June 2026, the 2026 reporting period, China recorded 18.1 million transfers linked to self-custodied stablecoin holdings worth $104.1 billion.

Turnover was also fast. Chainalysis estimated that stablecoin holdings in China turned over 33.2 times a year. That is more than three times the global average of 9.3. Chainalysis said the pattern is consistent with users using stablecoins like working capital.

China’s crypto market was also estimated to be sizable. Chainalysis put the size of China’s crypto economy at at least $176 billion. Domestic P2P activity accounted for 59.1 percent, 3.5 times higher than in the previous reporting period. That means activity in China is leaning more toward direct transfers than centralised services.

The increase came amid China’s tough regulatory stance. Chinese authorities have long restricted crypto trading, and in February they stepped up enforcement by issuing new rules targeting unlicensed products involving yuan-linked stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation. Even so, users increasingly chose direct wallet-to-wallet remittance routes.

China’s structural characteristics also stood out compared with other East Asian markets. South Korea was tallied as East Asia’s largest crypto market at $449.1 billion. Transaction volume rose 12.3 percent from the previous period, and retail investors showed a strong preference for tokens linked to artificial intelligence (AI).

Hong Kong highlighted institution-led trading. Institutional platforms accounted for 16 percent of service inflows, nearly three times the share in surrounding regions. The volume of business-to-business transactions flowing into Hong Kong was about $24 billion. Hong Kong issued its first stablecoin licence in April.

Japan had a high share of decentralised exchanges. Decentralised exchanges accounted for about 35 percent of service activity in Japan, the highest among East Asia’s mature markets. Chainalysis said 65.7 percent of decentralised exchange swaps were between $10 and $1,000. It also noted that decentralised exchange activity has risen more than 200 percent since 2022.

Japan’s institutional changes also continued. Japan’s parliament passed an amendment in July to bring digital assets into the framework of the financial market system. As a result, the East Asian crypto market is being reshaped along different paths, such as China’s expansion of unofficial P2P activity, institutional inflows into Hong Kong and Japan’s move into the regulated system.