China’s peer-to-peer stablecoin activity has expanded sharply despite the country’s continuing restrictions on cryptocurrency, while South Korea has emerged as East Asia’s largest crypto economy, according to figures highlighted by Cointelegraph. The developments come alongside a wider push across the region involving tokenized securities, institutional custody, cross-border payments and digital-asset regulation.
China’s stablecoin activity accelerates
Chainalysis recorded a 43-fold increase in the number of unique wallets sending peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions in China between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026. For the 2026 reporting period, covering July 2025 through June 2026, the analytics firm counted $104.1 billion across 18.1 million transfers involving self-custodied stablecoin holdings in China.
Stablecoins are digital assets designed to maintain a relatively stable value, often by tracking a traditional currency. Self-custody means the holder controls the wallet rather than leaving the assets with an exchange or other intermediary.
The holdings changed hands 33.2 times a year, compared with a global average of 9.3. Chainalysis said that turnover pattern was consistent with stablecoins being used as working capital rather than simply held as an investment.
Chainalysis estimated China’s overall crypto economy at a minimum of $176 billion. Domestic peer-to-peer activity represented 59.1% of that total during the latest reporting period, up to 3.5 times its share in the 2025 period. The largest monthly increase in China’s domestic stablecoin transfer volume shown in the data was $4.9 billion in March 2026.
South Korea leads, but exchanges face weaker results
South Korea ranked as East Asia’s largest crypto economy, with activity valued at $449.1 billion. Its crypto activity increased 12.3% in the year through June 2026 compared with the previous year. Retail traders showed a strong preference for tokens linked to artificial intelligence, according to the report.
The growth in overall activity did not prevent a difficult first half for South Korean crypto exchanges. Their operating profits fell 78%, while trading activity, market valuations and customer deposits declined.
Data from South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit showed that average daily trading volume at domestic virtual-asset exchanges dropped 44% from the preceding six-month period. Market capitalization fell 33%, and won-denominated deposits declined 35%. Exchange sales decreased 41%, even though the number of accounts eligible to trade edged up 0.4%.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong was notable for its institutional participation. Institutional platforms accounted for 16% of the city’s service inflows, nearly three times the proportion recorded in any regional neighbor. Hong Kong also received almost $24 billion in inbound business-to-business flows and issued its first stablecoin licenses in April.
Tokenization and institutional infrastructure expand
South Korea is also preparing a framework for tokenized securities. Securitize shares rose 8% after the tokenization platform announced a memorandum of understanding with South Korean technology company LG CNS. The companies plan to develop tokenized assets and digital-asset infrastructure for South Korean financial institutions.
The proposed framework is expected to cover the issuance and circulation of tokenized stocks, bonds, funds and other securities. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission proposed the rules the previous week, with the framework scheduled to take effect in February 2027.
In Singapore, Standard Chartered said it plans to launch digital-asset custody services for institutional clients and corporate clients that qualify as accredited investors. The planned service will cover selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.
Singapore-licensed exchange Independent Reserve has added cross-border payment tools for businesses. Companies can fund accounts in Singapore or US dollars and make fiat or stablecoin payouts to suppliers or employees in more than 20 currencies. The available stablecoin options include USDC and USDT. Its subsidiary ReserveX has also launched crypto derivatives trading for sophisticated investors.
Payward, the parent company of Kraken, and Singapore Gulf Bank announced a partnership intended to provide institutional crypto settlement around the clock.
Regulation and market picture
Hong Kong officials reaffirmed a plan to submit an amendment bill before the end of 2026. The legislation would establish licensing regimes covering digital-asset trading, custody, advisory and management services. Christopher Hui, the city’s secretary for financial services and the treasury, said at a policy briefing that the government would submit the bill within 2026.
Japan’s decentralized-exchange activity has increased more than 200% since 2022, with DEXs accounting for nearly 35% of service activity in the country, the highest share among mature East Asian markets in the report. Of Japanese DEX swaps, 65.7% were between $10 and $1,000. Japanese lawmakers passed revisions in July bringing digital assets under the country’s financial-markets framework.
Japan also added Russian crypto exchange Garantex to an expanded sanctions list linked to the continuing war in Ukraine. The restrictions cover payments and capital transactions with targeted parties. Garantex had previously been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions.
Moneyiar market data at 11:08–11:09 on October 9, 2026, showed a broadly weaker snapshot among the listed assets:
- Stable (STABLE): $0.0253673074, down 3.23% over 24 hours and 10.18% over seven days.
- XPR Network (XPR): $0.0022259145, down 2.16% over 24 hours and 5.16% over seven days.
- Comedian (BAN): $0.0615649675, down 4.91% over 24 hours and 6.53% over seven days.
- Walrus (WAL): $0.0337547342, down 5% over 24 hours and 2.44% over seven days.
The regional figures illustrate two simultaneous trends: crypto use and institutional infrastructure are expanding in parts of Asia, while exchanges and individual assets are experiencing weaker conditions in the latest market data.
