Chainalysis analyzes East Asia on-chain activity — Chinese capital flowing into USDT

Over the past year, cryptocurrency addresses from East Asian countries received $107 billion. The share of Bitcoin in the on-chain value transferred in the region stood at 51%, while stablecoins accounted for 33%. These estimates come from a new Chainalysis study.

Another preview of our Geography of Cryptocurrency Report is here! This week, we cover East Asia, the world’s biggest crypto market by transaction volume. Read to learn about professional trading strategy in the region, the role of stablecoins, and more! https://t.co/wG9lmVfSfj

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) August 20, 2020

Share of various cryptocurrencies in the on-chain value transferred to East Asian addresses. Source: Chainalysis.

The $107 billion for East Asian addresses exceeded Western Europe’s figure by 77%, placing Western Europe second.

The volume of funds sent from East Asian wallets to other regions was $50 billion, Chainalysis estimated. For comparison, Western Europe accounted for $38 billion.

Experts linked the large size of such flows to the Chinese authorities’ capital controls, which cap outbound capital at $50,000. For Chinese residents, moving into USDT has become a more convenient form than buying foreign real estate, which has become easier for officials to monitor, the analysts noted.

“Tether has become a substitute for the US dollar for many in China,” commented Dovi Wan, managing partner at Primitive Ventures.

Structure of on-chain transactions involving stablecoins. Source: Chainalysis.

Altcoins accounted for a larger share of the on-chain value transferred in East Asia than in other regions, while Bitcoin’s share was lower.

The basis for calculations in the new report included transactions with BAT, BCH, BNB, BTC, BUSD, CRO, CRPT, DAI, ETH, GNO, GUSD, HT, HUSD, ICN, LEO, LINK, LTC, MCO, MKR, MLN, OMG, PAX, PAXG, TGBP, TUSD, USDC, USDT, WETH, ZIL, ZRX.

Earlier, The Block analysts estimated that the total value of USDT payments in 2019 was $212 billion.

Recently, the issuer of the stablecoin stated the release of a coin on the OMG Network sidechain (formerly OmiseGO), a scaling solution for Ethereum.

What is Tether (USDT)?

Forklog previously reported on Sino Global Capital’s research, whose analysts identified 100,000 retail and institutional investors in China who are USDT buyers.

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