How to buy cheap Claude tokens in China
Chinese developers are using proxy networks, known as 'transfer stations,' to access U.S.-based AI models like Anthropic's Claude at significantly reduced prices, circumventing geo-blocking and identity verification measures. These proxy systems have created a thriving grey market involving a wide range of users, from students to tech workers, and have evolved in response to increasingly strict access controls. The phenomenon reveals limitations in current AI governance strategies and raises concerns about data misuse, traceability, and links to criminal infrastructure.
- ▪Chinese entities are using proxy networks with tens of thousands of fraudulent accounts to bypass U.S. AI model restrictions, according to a 2026 White House memo.
- ▪A grey market of API proxies, or 'transfer stations,' allows Chinese users to access Anthropic's Claude at up to 90% below official prices.
- ▪These proxy systems have led to anomalous usage patterns, such as Singapore showing the highest per capita use of Claude despite its small population.
- ▪Each new security measure by U.S. AI firms, including biometric KYC checks, has been met with corresponding evasion techniques like SMS farms and identity harvesting.
- ▪The transfer station economy involves not only AI researchers but also students, developers, and hobbyists, and has links to broader criminal markets and data exploitation.
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| Original publisher | Hacker News (Newest) |
| Canonical URL | https://www.chinatalk.media/p/how-to-buy-cheap-claude-tokens-in |
| Publication time | Sun, 17 May 2026 02:11:57 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-17T02:40:19.130Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
How to Buy Cheap Claude Tokens in ChinaThe Transfer Station Economy, ExplainedZilan QianMay 05, 20261791324ShareZilan Qian is a research associate at the Oxford China Policy Lab and holds a Master’s degree in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford.On April 23, 2026, the White House released a memo warning that Chinese entities were running “industrial-scale” distillation campaigns against American frontier AI models, leveraging “tens of thousands of proxy accounts” to evade detection. In February 2026, Anthropic similarly reported on Chinese labs’ coordinated distillation attacks using “a single proxy network managed more than 20,000 fraudulent accounts”.
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