U.S. residents are increasingly paying for peptides with cryptocurrency. In the first quarter of 2026, sellers of these products received $32 million—a 700% increase over the year, according to Bloomberg, citing Chainalysis data.
Peptides are marketed as aids for weight loss, muscle gain, and life extension. Approved drugs undergo clinical trials and are sold in pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS. However, a significant portion of online sales bypasses this system.
Cheap products are imported from overseas laboratories without prescriptions or insurance. Some packaging is marked as not intended for human use.
Why Cryptocurrency?
Banks and card networks refuse to service such sellers due to compliance risks. Therefore, some suppliers only accept bitcoin payments. Chainalysis noted that for some buyers, this is their first experience using cryptocurrency.
Bloomberg cited the example of Zach, a 49-year-old marketing director from the northwestern U.S. In search of retatrutide (an Eli Lilly drug), he found a Chinese supplier willing to send 20 vials for $240. In the U.S. market, such a purchase would cost him about $300 per month. The seller accepted only digital assets, so Zach had to buy bitcoin for the first time in his life.
Market Growth
Chainalysis identified three stages of market growth. Until 2025, it was a niche “underground” with an inflow of about $200,000 per month. Then the topic caught the attention of the Make America Healthy Again movement. Growth coincided with Robert Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as U.S. Secretary of Health. However, a direct causal link cannot be established from on-chain data, the company emphasized.
A sharp increase occurred at the end of 2025, following the topic’s emergence in the TikTok subculture of looksmaxxing, whose followers are obsessed with improving appearance and physical form. The average monthly inflow grew approximately fourfold to $9.9 million, exceeding $10 million in peak months.
Meanwhile, former Coinbase Global employee Sarah Graham estimated the annual peptide market turnover at about $100 million in 2023. According to TRM Labs, digital asset inflows into the sector reached $41.4 million in 2025, a 20% increase over the year. TRM Labs’ Global Policy Director Ari Redbord compared the dynamics to the early stages of shadow online markets like Silk Road.
Major Sellers Shift to Stablecoins
The market is unevenly structured, experts noted. The main volume comes from a narrow group of large sellers with a broad customer base. The larger the supplier, the more professional their transactions.
Small players experiment with different coins, while large ones primarily use bitcoin and stablecoins. Sellers with an average deposit of $1,000 or more predominantly use “stable coins” to hedge against exchange rate fluctuations during large and cross-border purchases.
Raw Materials and Suppliers from China
The main raw materials for peptides are produced in China. TRM Labs noted that Chinese chemical manufacturers are actively increasing their presence in this niche. According to Forbes, imports from China to the U.S. doubled to over $300 million in the first three quarters of last year.
Some suppliers have transitioned to peptides from the drug business. China’s Bigreat Technology supplied fentanyl and amphetamine precursors to markets in Russia and Kazakhstan. For selling cosmetic peptides, it established a separate legal entity—Zhengzhou DEPU Technology.
In March 2026, Chainalysis analysts reported the return of darknet platforms to bitcoin.
