China currency controls are pushing traders toward USDT and Bitcoin while Renminbi keeps slipping in global reserves

China seeks to make the renminbi a true reserve currency, but the numbers reveal a story in which Beijing’s capital controls create conditions for Bitcoin and dollar stablecoins to thrive as workarounds rather than competitors.

The International Monetary Fund’s latest reserve data shows the renminbi holding just 1.93% of global foreign exchange reserves in the third quarter of 2025, down from a 2.83% peak in early 2022.

That translates to .

The wider the range, the more stablecoins behave like money market…