Compiled by: angelilu, Foresight News
Original article from Bloomberg
A 49-year-old US marketing director, who previously considered Bitcoin as having "no underlying value," spent days this year opening accounts, buying coins, and transferring funds just to purchase 20 bottles of an investigational weight-loss drug from a Chinese seller. A Bloomberg report on July 20 revealed that such transactions are forming a crypto payments market, which, at the current pace, is projected to exceed $100 million in annual transaction volume — with most buyers being ordinary consumers who had never previously touched cryptocurrency.
A Transfer Made to Save Money
The buyer interviewed by Bloomberg, named Zach (surname withheld for privacy), is from the Pacific Northwest region of the US. He sought retatrutide — a weight-loss drug under development by Eli Lilly, classified as a triple agonist targeting GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon receptors. Simply put, it hits one more target than currently available drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide. Lilly released its Phase III clinical data in March this year, showing weight loss of up to 28% at the highest dose over 80 weeks, but the drug has not yet received FDA approval and is not available through official channels.
After searching for months, Zach found a Chinese seller willing to sell him 20 bottles of a product claiming to be this compound, roughly a year's supply, for a total of $240. In contrast, buying from a US-based reseller would cost him $300 per month, or $3,600 per year.
The only condition: payment in Bitcoin only.
According to Bloomberg's description, Zach previously categorized Bitcoin as a purely speculative asset. But the price difference of more than tenfold changed his mind — "The disparity was so large, it felt like a risk worth taking." The seller gave him a webpage teaching him how to buy and transfer the cryptocurrency. A few days later, he had opened a Coinbase account, bought Bitcoin for the first time in his life, transferred it to the seller, and received the package a week later.
What Are Peptides, and Why Do They Need Crypto Payments?
Peptides are short chains of amino acids involved in regulating various physiological processes in the human body. In recent years, they have entered the public spotlight alongside the weight-loss drug boom — injectables like semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound), which have undergone full clinical validation and received approval, are themselves peptide-based drugs.
However, beyond these approved drugs, a large number of similar products without sufficient validation for human safety and efficacy circulate online. They are often sold under the label of "research chemicals," with packaging explicitly stating they are not FDA-approved and not for human or animal use. They are shipped directly from overseas laboratories, require no prescription, and bypass insurance.
Due to the unproven health claims of these products and the high legal and regulatory risks, banks and credit card networks are often unwilling to provide services to such sellers. Shut out from the traditional payment system, an increasing number of sellers accept only Bitcoin.
It should be noted that there are tiers within crypto payments: data cited by Bloomberg shows that among sellers with an average transaction value exceeding $1,000, stablecoins have surpassed Bitcoin as the preferred method; however, Bitcoin remains mainstream on the end catering to small-scale retail customers like Zach.
Growing in Scale, But Still Relatively Small
Data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis shows that grey-market peptide sellers received $32 million in cryptocurrency payments in Q1 2026, a 700% year-on-year increase (and a 159% increase from the previous quarter's $12 million). Projected at the recent monthly rate, the annualized scale has already exceeded $100 million.
Security firm TRM Labs, using a different methodology—combining on-chain analysis with investigation of public information on drug precursor manufacturers—estimated crypto inflows into this sector reached $41.4 million in 2025, a 20% year-on-year increase.
Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, assessed, "This market is huge and expanding. I'm not sure there's any other pharmaceutical market in the world growing as fast as peptides."
This paints a somewhat dramatic scene: gym-goers, podcast listeners, middle-aged individuals wanting to lose weight — these demographics are being linked with grey-market buyers.
Although growing, industry investors estimate the entire peptide black market to be between $1 billion and $3 billion. The volume using cryptocurrency as a payment method remains very small.
A Bar Adorned with Crypto Memorabilia
The most interesting scene in Bloomberg's report takes place in a corner of a Manhattan bar — walls covered with crypto memorabilia, over a hundred people crammed into a stuffy room, listening to a lecture on peptides.
The organizer was DeSciNYC, a monthly offline gathering for science enthusiasts with the slogan "Science Belongs to Everyone." Its past themes have included: longevity, CRISPR gene editing, AI and science, microbiome, bioelectricity, tardigrades, cellular metabolism, academic publishing fraud, prediction markets, and more.
The peptide-themed event was titled "Peptides 101." The speaker was Julius Ritter, in his twenties, founder of the California Peptide Club, who also runs a longevity-themed meal delivery company and operates a hackathon house in San Francisco. He spent an hour explaining peptide chemistry, potential uses, some risks, and several specific products, and finally lifted his black T-shirt to inject himself on the spot, winning applause from the audience.
This scene illustrates something more direct than payment data: the connection between crypto and this market is more than just a payment channel; it's the same group of people. The circles of DeSci, longevity, biohacking, and fitness self-optimization already overlap significantly, with the crypto community being a frequent presence among them.
Regulation is Moving; This Use Case Might Disappear
It's worth noting that movement in the US is heading towards "legalization."
The FDA is convening advisory committees to discuss whether to allow the legal domestic production of some popular peptides. US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly supported this direction, arguing that legalization "helps move demand away from the black market." Lee Rosebush, president of the US Peptide Medical Association, which advocates for regulation, described the current market state as a "wild west." He believes stricter rules could actually squeeze out "for research only" manufacturers, making it easier for patients to obtain safe medication.
If this path succeeds, the position of crypto payments in this market could become awkward — its current share is largely the space left vacant by the absence of the traditional payment system.
As for Zach himself, he plans to step back. He says he has already reached his target weight.
