2026 Crypto Market C2C Trust Reshaping and User Behavior Insight Report — The Three Trillion Dollar Wave and the "Zero Freeze" Oasis

In the journey of crypto assets towards mainstream adoption, the ultimate destination of wealth is never just numbers on a ledger, but the secure realization of value in the real world.

In 2026, the crypto industry is entering a mature phase of "price re-evaluation," and the logic of capital flow is undergoing profound changes. From on-chain yields to fiat conversion, the C2C (customer-to-customer) segment has become the critical gateway connecting the virtual and the real. Based on the one-year operational data of Huobi Selected Station and combined with macro industry trends and real user experiences, this report systematically reveals for the first time: a new C2C paradigm, reconstructed around "trust," is taking shape.

Macro Contrast: A $311 Billion "Liquidity Island" and a Crisis of Trust

According to data from the "CoinGecko 2025 Annual Crypto Industry Report", the crypto market experienced a dramatic "asset dislocation" in 2025: while the total crypto market cap shrank by 10.4%, the stablecoin market cap surged against the trend by 48.9%, breaking through $311 billion to reach a new all-time high.

This starkly contrasting data reveals a harsh industry truth: users are not without profits; they are afraid to cash out.

Massive funds have been converted into stablecoins and stranded on-chain, forming numerous "liquidity islands." The root cause is the "withdrawal panic" triggered by the collapse of security in traditional C2C fiat gateways. This "panic" is evident from a Huobi HTX C2C user survey—Huobi HTX OTC systematically categorized and analyzed typical issues in C2C trading scenarios based on thousands of user feedback points accumulated through public social media channels (@HTX_c2c) and daily operations, listing six core user pain points.

Among the various factors affecting user trading experience, "Bank Card Freezing and Fund Security Anxiety" topped the list with an overwhelming 37%. This means that for nearly 40% of traders attempting to cross the virtual-real boundary, their primary concern is no longer price volatility, but the safe landing of their assets. Additionally, 20% of users are troubled by merchant quality and entry barriers, 14% feel lost in the new user guidance process, while pain points like restricted payment channels (11%), inefficient complaint resolution (11%), and lack of merchant information transparency (7%) are scattered like hidden reefs throughout the $311 billion liquidity artery.

The core conclusion is clear: the friction in cashing in and out is no longer limited to "exchange rate loss" but has evolved into uncertainty about account status due to "opaque fund origins." This crisis of trust directly blocks the pathway for hundreds of billions in capital. The market urgently needs a fiat gateway "oasis" with absolute security that can fundamentally alleviate that 37% core anxiety.

Microcosm Beneath the Reefs: The Folded Truth of Trading and Psychological Defenses

When macro data descends to the level of real individuals, the stranding of $300 billion in stablecoins is no longer just a financial term, but countless moments of hesitation and fear at the "exit" edge.

The most direct projection of this fear is a psychological trauma jokingly referred to in the industry as "bank freeze PTSD." An ordinary urban white-collar worker, accustomed to regular crypto asset allocation amidst a busy schedule, seeks respectable asset appreciation. However, a seemingly routine withdrawal request, matched with a counterparty of complex background, led to the instant "freezing" of all his associated bank cards. This sudden freeze severed not just cash flow, but his connection to real life—collection calls for pending mortgage payments, workplace suspicion due to inability to make normal payments, and even deep panic about his personal credit system, instantly diluting the joy of wealth appreciation into survival anxiety. In Huobi HTX's user feedback, that 37% security anxiety stems from this passive harm caused by "risk spillover," making countless defensive users prefer to endure exchange rate losses and almost obsessively search for that "absolute safe haven" for their funds.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the market, frequent-trading "swing hunters" suffer in another dimension. As professional traders, their lifeline is efficiency. In the life-or-death race against market volatility, they urgently need to deposit funds to buy the dip or withdraw to hedge risks, but reality often presents: unexplained payment channel delays, low-quality merchants shifting blame, or the lagging "indiscriminate strikes" of risk control systems. For ordinary people, the 11% payment restrictions and 11% complaint delays mean waiting; for them, it's the real "missed opportunity cost" of hard cash. For these "offensive traders" active on the industry frontlines, the core pain point is not avoiding all risks, but desperately craving an oasis that can provide "deterministic feedback" between absolute safety and capital turnover rate, preventing opportunity costs from being drained away in inefficient communication.

For "steady whales" who have weathered bull and bear markets, the C2C market resembles a "dark forest" fraught with hidden dangers. The logic of moving large funds is entirely different from that of retail investors. They are acutely aware that their capital size, in the transparent on-chain world, acts like a massive beacon, easily attracting infiltration by illicit funds. In the past, due to the lack of merchant information transparency (7%), these large players often had to rely on "probabilistic selection" or past experience to choose counterparties. This information asymmetry gave rise to a demand akin to "private banking" levels when facing massive exit needs—they not only need to trade but also require a credit guarantee that can isolate risks at the source and dares to offer "full compensation" with real money in extreme probability scenarios.

This "folded reality" at the micro level has also sparked widespread resonance on social media. As @Yep_Cooper mentioned in his in-depth tweet comparing the truth about deposits and withdrawals across three major exchanges, "The truth about freezing and compensation is the watershed that distinguishes a platform's fundamental character." Personal experiences point to a common demand: at the edge of trust collapse, the market urgently needs a deep trust model that goes beyond mere matching and possesses infrastructure-level capabilities.

A New Industry Paradigm: From "Price Comparison Game" to "Trust Infrastructure," Huobi Selected Station Maintains a "Zero Freeze" Record Since Launch

Through one year of stable operation, Huobi Selected Station has successfully validated a high-standard trust model. Addressing long-standing industry pain points, it has constructed a three-layer protection system centered on "Pre-Transaction Identification + In-Transaction Intervention + Post-Transaction Guarantee," steering C2C trading from a singular "price competition" towards "service and trust competition."

1. Dynamic Risk Control: Shifting from "Post-Event Handling" to "Pre-Event Prevention"

To address the 37% security anxiety, Selected Station continuously upgrades its risk control system. By training behavior models covering thousands of anomalous behaviors, it achieves real-time monitoring during the transaction communication phase. Coupled with a 7×24-hour manual service system, it ensures risk events are accurately intercepted before they occur.

2. Extreme Screening: Solving the 20% Merchant Quality Doubt

Selected Station maintains an extremely high merchant elimination rate through a strict merchant准入 and evaluation system. All入驻 merchants must undergo real-name fund chain溯源 standards, with "Zero Freezes Since Joining" as a core硬性指标, ensuring the health of fund sources and flows within the transaction chain. The "hell-level" screening of merchants is simultaneously a信用筛选: only merchants with genuinely clean capital strength can enter this "oasis."

3. Showcasing the Report Card: 0 Actual Freeze Cases & 100% Full Compensation

Since its launch one year ago, Huobi Selected Station has maintained a record of "0 actual freeze cases." What truly establishes its leadership position is the industry-first "100% Full Compensation Mechanism." Providing users with deterministic protection in extreme scenarios, its底气 is not merely financial strength but absolute confidence in its own risk control algorithms and merchant management model. This mechanism elevates the C2C risk底线 from "user bears the risk" to "platform provides the backstop,"彻底终结了 user concerns.

On this one-year anniversary, as the most secure bridge connecting the $311 billion ecosystem, Huobi Selected Station commits to持续加码 risk control infrastructure, striving to become the most stable safe harbor in the crypto ocean, safeguarding every trader's right to "secure realization." When "full compensation" becomes the industry standard, when "zero freezes" becomes the交易标配, the true prosperity of the crypto market will follow. The meaning of wealth will ultimately resonate with every secure realization.

About Huobi HTX

Founded in 2013, Huobi HTX has evolved over its 13-year history from a cryptocurrency exchange into a comprehensive blockchain business ecosystem encompassing digital asset trading, financial derivatives, research, investment, incubation, and other ventures.

As a global leader in Web3 access, Huobi HTX adheres to a development strategy focused on global expansion, ecosystem prosperity, wealth效应, security, and compliance, providing comprehensive, secure, and reliable value and services to virtual currency enthusiasts worldwide.

To learn more about Huobi HTX, please visit https://www.htx.com/ or HTX Square, and follow us on X, Telegram, and Discord. For further inquiries, please contact glo-media@htx-inc.com.