China's gray market resells Claude access despite export controls

A network of 'transfer stations' is systematically bypassing Anthropic's access controls against China — including geoblocking and selfie verification — letting Chinese developers buy Claude tokens for as little as 10% of list price. Analyst Zilan Qian warns the circumvention infrastructure undermines both US export controls and Anthropic's own safety systems.

Why it matters: This is a direct crack in the access-control regime AI labs and US policymakers are relying on to restrict frontier model access to China, showing that geoblocking and identity verification can be routed around at scale rather than just by individuals. It raises the stakes for the broader US effort to get allies to pick a US or China AI bloc, since porous enforcement weakens the leverage export controls are meant to provide.