Breaking news! Americans are疯狂 buying “unlisted weight-loss miracle drugs” and only accept $BTC payments—annual trading volume has surpassed $100 million! Is it a new gold mine or just another sucker trap?

Zach, a 49-year-old marketing director at a U.S. company, did something he used to absolutely look down on. After several days spent opening an account, learning how to transfer funds, and buying $BTC , he did it all to buy 20 bottles of a weight-loss drug still in clinical trials from a Chinese seller.

Before that, he had categorized $BTC as “speculative assets with no underlying value.” But the price spread—over tenfold—made him change his mind. A U.S. middleman charges $300 a month, or $3,600 a year. From the Chinese seller, 20 bottles’ yearly supply costs only $240—but you have to pay in bitcoin.

What he wants to buy is retatrutide, Eli Lilly’s triple-agonist weight-loss drug in development. Phase 3 data show 28% weight loss over 80 weeks. But the drug still hasn’t received an FDA approval, so it’s impossible to buy through legitimate channels.

This kind of deal is forming a hidden crypto payment market. A Bloomberg report dated July 20 estimates that, at the current pace, annual transaction volume will exceed $100 million. Buyers are mostly ordinary consumers who had never touched crypto before.

Peptides are short-chain amino acids. Approved drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide are, in essence, peptide-based drugs. But online there are large numbers of similar products that haven’t had safety verification in humans. They are marketed under the banner of “research chemicals,” and clearly labeled “not approved by the FDA.” These products are shipped directly from overseas labs, don’t require a prescription, and don’t go through insurance.

Banks and credit card networks are unwilling to serve these high-risk sellers. After being rejected by the traditional payment system, sellers take only $BTC. But there’s clear segmentation internally: data cited by Bloomberg show that in large transactions over $1,000 per trade, stablecoins have already overtaken bitcoin as the preferred option. For small retail buyers like Zach, bitcoin remains the mainstream.

Growth is happening fast. Chainalysis statistics show that in Q1 2026, gray-peptide sellers received $32 million in crypto payments, up 700% year over year, with an annualized total exceeding $100 million. TRM Labs used another method to estimate that in all of 2025, crypto inflows into this sector totaled $41.4 million, up 20% year over year.

TRM Labs’ global policy lead Ari Redbord is blunt: “This market is huge and expanding. I’m not sure there’s any other drug market growing as fast as peptides.”

The picture painted is dramatic: regular gym-goers, podcast listeners, and middle-aged people who want to lose weight—these groups are being connected with gray-market buyers. Still, industry investors estimate that the entire peptide black market is between $1 billion and $3 billion, and the portion that uses crypto payments remains small.

The most interesting scene happens in a bar in Manhattan. The walls are covered with crypto memorabilia. More than 100 people squeeze into a stifling room to listen to a lecture titled “Peptides 101.” The speaker is Julius Ritter, in his 20s, founder of the California Peptide Club. In an hour he covers peptide chemistry, potential uses, and risks, then lifts his black T-shirt and injects himself on the spot—winning thunderous applause.

The event organizer is DeSciNYC, a monthly gathering for science enthusiasts, with the tagline “Science belongs to everyone.” Past topics include longevity, CRISPR, AI and science, the microbiome, tardigrades, and academic publishing fraud. This scene suggests the connection between crypto and this market isn’t just a payment channel; it’s the same set of people. DeSci, longevity, biohackers, and fitness self-optimization circles were already highly overlapping.

Regulation is moving, and this use case could disappear. The FDA is convening an advisory committee to discuss whether certain popular peptides should be allowed to be legally produced in the U.S. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly supports legalization, arguing it can shift demand away from the black market.

Lee Rosebush, president of the American Peptide Medicine Association, described the current market as “Wild West.” He believes stricter rules would squeeze out vendors that sell only “for research,” making it easier for patients to obtain safe drugs. If this path works, crypto payments’ position in this market would become awkward—its share today is, to a large extent, space left behind by the absence of traditional payment systems.

Zach himself, however, plans to exit. He said he has already reached his target weight.

Follow me: Get more real-time crypto market analysis and insights!

#GUSD年化升至3.8% $BTC $ETH $SOL # Event contract launch #ETH breaks $1900