When people talk about USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar and used as a bridge between fiat and crypto markets. Also known as Tether, it's the most traded digital asset in the world—even where it’s officially banned. In China, USDT isn’t legal, but it’s everywhere. You won’t find it on domestic exchanges like Huobi or OKX anymore—they’re all shut down or forced to leave the mainland. But that doesn’t mean it disappeared. It just went underground.
China banned crypto trading in 2021 and cracked down on mining in 2022, but USDT kept flowing. Why? Because people still need a way to hold value outside the yuan. Banks freeze accounts. Stock markets crash. Real estate stagnates. And when the local currency loses trust, USDT becomes a quiet escape hatch. Traders use peer-to-peer platforms, encrypted apps, and even cash meetups to swap yuan for USDT. It’s not glamorous. It’s not safe. But it works. And that’s why regulators keep chasing it. The People’s Bank of China calls it a threat to financial stability, and they’re right—it bypasses capital controls. But they can’t shut it down completely because it’s not a single company. It’s millions of people using it to protect their savings.
USDT in China isn’t about speculation—it’s about survival. That’s why you’ll see posts here about crypto regulation China, how authorities track transactions, freeze wallets, and punish exchanges that ignore the ban. You’ll also find stories about Tether China, how the company responds to pressure, its reserve audits, and why trust in USDT keeps slipping. And then there’s the real stuff: how people avoid detection, what wallets are safest, and why even a simple USDT transfer can get your bank account locked. This collection doesn’t pretend USDT is legal here. It doesn’t sell you a shortcut. It shows you what’s actually happening on the ground—because if you’re using USDT in China, you need to know the risks, not the rumors.
What follows are real cases: exchanges seized, wallets frozen, scams disguised as USDT airdrops, and the quiet ways people keep trading. No fluff. No hype. Just what you need to know before you move money.
Despite China's 2021 crypto ban, peer-to-peer trading continues underground using USDT, VPNs, and encrypted apps. Learn how it works, the risks involved, and why it won't disappear anytime soon.