China is reportedly using cryptocurrency to take advantage of America’s steroid craze.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA )’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet this Thursday and Friday to discuss whether seven peptides — loosely regulated protein-building chemicals — may be added to the Section 503A Bulks List, which determines what drugs medical professionals can use to create custom prescriptions. This comes as blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis found that one of the same Chinese manufacturers responsible for producing opioids like fentanyl is driving online peptide sales, Axios reported July 7.
“Under the Trump Administration, HHS [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] and the FDA are committed to protecting Americans by ensuring that drugs marketed in the United States meet the applicable standards for safety,” an HHS spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The FDA continues to use its regulatory and enforcement authorities to address the illegal marketing and distribution of unapproved drugs, including products marketed as peptides for human use. These actions include warning letters, import controls, inspections, seizures, injunctions, and coordination with federal, state, and international partners, as appropriate.”
As crypto sales are harder to track than traditional banks, Chinese-based companies were able to reap approximately $27 million in the first quarter of 2026, according to Chainalysis. This is up 150% from the previous quarter.
Around half of American adults get their health advice from wellness influencers on social media, according to a study published by the Pew Research Center in May.
“For these manufacturers that decided to pivot, it was really a business decision,” Chainalysis senior intelligence analyst Sara Graham said, according to Axios. “They departed from a trade in which they could be sanctioned or indicted by the U.S. and reappeared in a very lucrative scene that has widespread buy-in.”
The FDA previously warned against using unapproved GLP-1 drugs — peptides designed for weight loss — and other custom drugs, citing concerns that counterfeit products may lack the safety and quality standards that FDA-approved ones like Ozempic or Trulicity uphold.
“I’m gobsmacked by the risks people are taking,” Nuritas CEO Nora Khaldi said, according to Axios. Nuritas specializes in designing organic peptides. “No matter how great a molecule is, the risk you’re taking by using and taking it when you don’t know the quality.… It’s mind-blowing.”
Synthetic opioid overdoses — primarily fentanyl — killed approximately 38,000 Americans in 2025, according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control in May.
“China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States,” according to a 2020 report published by the Drug Enforcement Agency.
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