Residents of the United States are increasingly using cryptocurrency to pay for peptides. In the first quarter of 2026, sellers of these products received $32 million, a staggering 700% increase year-over-year, according to Bloomberg citing data from Chainalysis.
Source: Bloomberg.Peptides are marketed as aids for weight loss, muscle gain, and longevity. Approved products 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 shipped from overseas laboratories without prescriptions or insurance. Some packaging even states that they are not intended for human use.
Why Cryptocurrency?
Banks and card networks refuse to service these sellers due to compliance risks. As a result, some suppliers only accept payment in Bitcoin. Chainalysis noted that for some buyers, this is their first experience using cryptocurrency.
Bloomberg highlighted the case of Zak, a 49-year-old marketing director from the Pacific Northwest. In search of retatrutide (an Eli Lilly product), he contacted a Chinese supplier who agreed to ship 20 vials for $240. In the U.S. market, such a purchase would have cost him about $300 per month. The seller only accepted digital assets, prompting Zak to buy Bitcoin for the first time in his life.
Market Growth
Chainalysis identified three phases of market growth. Until 2025, it was a niche "underground" market with an influx of about $200,000 per month. Then, the topic gained attention from the Make America Healthy Again movement. This growth coincided with the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the U.S. Department of Health. However, the company emphasized that a direct causal link cannot be established based solely on on-chain data.
A sharp spike occurred at the end of 2025 after the topic entered the TikTok subculture of looksmaxxing. Followers of this trend are obsessed with improving their appearance and physical fitness. The average monthly influx quadrupled to approximately $9.9 million, with peak months exceeding $10 million.
Meanwhile, former Coinbase Global employee Sarah Graham estimated the annual turnover of the peptide market at around $100 million in 2023. According to TRM Labs, digital asset inflows into the sector reached $41.4 million in 2025, a 20% increase year-over-year. Eri Redbond, global policy director at the analytics platform, compared this trend to the early stages of shadow online markets like Silk Road.
Major Sellers Turning to Stablecoins
The market is unevenly structured, experts noted. A narrow group of large sellers with a broad customer base accounts for the majority of the volume. The larger the supplier, the more professional their transactions.
Smaller players experiment with various coins, while larger ones predominantly use Bitcoin and stablecoins. Sellers with average deposits over $1,000 tend to favor stablecoins to hedge against price fluctuations during large and cross-border purchases.
Raw Materials and Suppliers from China
The primary 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 over three quarters last year, exceeding $300 million.
Source: Bloomberg.Some suppliers have shifted to peptides from the drug trade. Chinese company Bigreat Technology supplied precursors for fentanyl and amphetamines to markets in Russia and Kazakhstan. To sell cosmetic peptides, it established a separate legal entity, Zhengzhou DEPU Technology.
It’s worth noting that in March 2026, analysts from Chainalysis reported a resurgence of darknet platforms using Bitcoin.