Canada’s monthly peer-to-peer crypto activity has fallen from a spring 2024 peak near 650,000 transactions alongside a decline in study permits, according to an Oct. 14 Chainalysis North America study. The firm compared domestic P2P transfers with study permit data for people from India, China and the Philippines, and said the two measures had moved together since mid-2021. Chainalysis described the relationship as “associational, not causal,” pointing to immigrants maintaining cross-border financial ties and seeking cheaper ways to move money.
Official data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada recorded 65,240 new student arrivals between January and August 2026, down 71% from the same months in 2024. The existing study permit population fell to 602,115 at the end of August 2026 from 1,032,950 in June 2024, a decline of about 41.7%. Canada introduced an annual study permit cap in 2024 and has set a target of 155,000 new student arrivals for 2026.
Stablecoin payment research shows cross-border transfers becoming more prominent. Borderless.xyz reported a third-quarter 2026 median remittance cost of 1%, compared with the World Bank’s 6.36% global average from Q3 2025. On a $200 payment, those rates equate to $2 and $12.72 respectively. Payout completion rates varied by corridor, from 73% for Costa Rica’s SINPE to 98.6% for Mexico’s SPEI. Gravity Team CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis cautioned that local conversion and payout still have to complete after a token arrives, calling local currency settlement a continuing constraint.
Chainalysis separately reported that nearly 20% of cross-border stablecoin value leaving Canada is directed toward India, the Philippines, and China. In the Philippines, BPI has tested stablecoin settlement with digital clearinghouse Meridian for overseas earnings, targeting freelancers and virtual assistants, with plans to expand before the ASEAN Summit in November.
