The United States holds more cryptocurrency than any other country but uses it comparatively little for peer-to-peer and cross-border payments, according to Chainalysis’ latest Geography of Cryptocurrency report.
The seventh edition covers the 12 months from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, one of the most volatile periods in crypto market history. Bitcoin reached an all-time high before suffering its largest dollar-value fall on record, losing $67,000 between its peak and trough.
Over the same period, the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation fell by half, a contraction of $2.1 trillion. However, the underlying crypto economy – measured through service inflows, domestic peer-to-peer activity and international transfers – declined by only 1.6%, from $9.5 trillion to $9.4 trillion.
That was a markedly different result from the 2023 bear market, when the crypto economy dropped 23%, or $1.2 trillion, despite a $0.3 trillion reduction in market capitalisation. This time, the market-cap decline was seven times larger, while economic activity fell by $0.1 trillion.
Value entering crypto businesses, including exchanges, decentralised finance protocols, lending platforms and bridges, decreased 4.3%, from $9.30 trillion to $8.90 trillion. By contrast, transfers directly between personal wallets within the same country rose 302.9%, from $56.8 billion to $228.7 billion. Its share increased in all eight regions measured.
Stablecoins accounted for 96% of domestic peer-to-peer activity. Although the value of that channel across all crypto assets fell 19.7%, its stablecoin portion increased 377.7%, suggesting that the market downturn was concentrated in price-sensitive assets rather than those used to transfer money.
International stablecoin transfers rose 77.5%, from $124.2 billion to $220.3 billion. Monthly volumes more than doubled, increasing from $11 billion in January 2025 to $24 billion in June 2026.
The average transfer was about $3,000, a figure Chainalysis said was more consistent with invoices, remittances and savings transfers than institutional settlements. The busiest 25% of payment corridors continued to account for 96.1% of total value, but activity in the remaining 75% grew from $0.26 billion to $8.66 billion. A further 4,708 corridors opened, carrying $2.64 billion.
Philip Gradwell, vice-president of economics at Tether, attributed that expansion to low costs, with USDT averaging about one cent per transaction.
Chainalysis linked growing stablecoin use to regulatory developments including the GENIUS Act in the US, MiCA in the European Union, and measures in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK.
Brazil ranked first overall, with a crypto economy worth $252.5 billion, placing it among the top four countries across all four measures: service flows, domestic peer-to-peer activity, cross-border flows and onchain balances.
The US was second, ranking first for total flows and balances but 20th for peer-to-peer activity and 11th for cross-border flows. Nigeria was third, leading the world in both domestic peer-to-peer and cross-border activity while ranking 18th for service flows and balances.
Global onchain holdings fell from a peak of $0.86 trillion in September 2025 to $0.44 trillion. Stablecoin balances remained between $98 billion and $109 billion, while other assets declined 55.6%, leaving stablecoins representing 22.5% of onchain value.
Chainalysis said the rankings were not directly comparable with last year’s index, which placed India first and Brazil fifth, because the methodology had changed. It also described its totals as a floor rather than an estimate.
Separately, a survey of 8,205 companies across the European Union found that only 0.2% accepted cryptocurrencies for online payments.
