China’s P2P stablecoin wallets surge 43x, Korea’s $450B crypto economy: Asia Express

China P2P stablecoin wallets grew 43x despite crypto restrictions: ChainalysisThe number of unique wallets sending peer-to-peer (P2P) stablecoin transactions in China grew 43-fold between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026, according to Chainalysis.The blockchain analytics company recorded $104.1 billion across 18.1 million transfers involving China’s self-custodied stablecoin holdings during the 2026 reporting period, which ran from July 2025 to June 2026.Stablecoin holdings turned over 33.2 times per year, more than three times the global average of 9.3, a pattern Chainalysis said was consistent with users treating stablecoins as working capital.Chainalysis’s new report estimated that China’s crypto economy is worth at least $176 billion. Domestic P2P activity accounted for 59.1% of the total, 3.5 times its share in the 2025 reporting period.China’s domestic stablecoin transfer volume added $4.9 billion in March 2026, the largest monthly increase shown. Source: ChainalysisKOREASouth Korea is East Asia’s largest crypto-economy despite 78% fall in exchange profitsChainalysis ranked South Korea as East Asia’s largest crypto economy at $449.1 billion. Activity g...