China P2P Stablecoin Wallets Surge 43x as Korea's $449B Crypto Economy Leads East Asia

China's peer-to-peer stablecoin ecosystem has exploded despite the country's ongoing cryptocurrency restrictions, with the number of unique wallets engaged in P2P stablecoin transfers growing 43-fold between Q1 2024 and Q2 2026, according to new data from Chainalysis. During the 2026 reporting period (July 2025 to June 2026), the blockchain analytics firm recorded $104.1 billion across 18.1 million transfers involving self-custodied stablecoin holdings. Stablecoin holdings turned over 33.2 times per year—more than three times the global average of 9.3—suggesting Chinese users are treating stablecoins as working capital. Domestic P2P activity accounted for 59.1% of total volume, 3.5 times its share in the prior reporting period, with March 2026 posting a single-month increase of $4.9 billion. Chainalysis estimated China's broader crypto economy is worth at least $176 billion.

South Korea has been ranked as East Asia's largest crypto economy at $449.1 billion, with activity growing 12.3% year-over-year through June 2026, driven in part by retail demand for AI-linked tokens. However, the first half of 2026 proved brutal for domestic crypto exchanges, which saw operating profits plunge 78% as trading volumes, valuations, and customer deposits all declined. According to the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), average daily trading volume at virtual asset exchanges fell 44% from the previous six months, while market capitalization dropped 33% and won-denominated deposits declined 35%. Exchange sales fell 41% over the same period despite the number of eligible trading accounts rising slightly by 0.4%.

Meanwhile, tokenization platform Securitize saw its shares jump 8% after announcing a partnership with South Korean technology firm LG CNS to develop tokenized assets and digital asset infrastructure for South Korean financial institutions. The memorandum of understanding gives Securitize an early foothold in South Korea as the country prepares to roll out a new regulatory framework for tokenized securities, positioning both firms to capitalize on growing institutional demand for on-chain financial products across East Asia's most developed crypto market.