The scale and profits of the loan assistance platforms declined after the new regulations, with many expanding into the cryptocurrency space and "going overseas."

ME News Report, April 6 (UTC+8). With the official implementation of new lending regulations, a slowdown in demand for consumer credit, and other factors combined, multiple consumer-loan facilitation (lending-assistance) platforms saw year-on-year declines in both revenue and loan-disbursement scale, while net profits fell sharply. Some of these platforms are seeking second growth curves such as “going overseas” and investing in the “cryptocurrency circle.” The new lending regulations also impose management requirements on facilitation institutions, including “whitelist”-based systems, and in practice have drawn clear compliance red lines for the online facilitation lending industry.

It is reported that ahead of this year’s “3·15” International Consumers’ Rights Day, the National Financial Regulatory Administration held talks with relevant executives from Lexin, Qifu Technology, Jiayin Technology, Yiren Zhike, and Xinfei Technology. Platforms such as Lexin and Yiren Zhike have already laid out overseas businesses, with Southeast Asia and Latin America becoming the main battlegrounds. Weixin Jinke has continued to expand into the blockchain industry over the past two years; in 2024, it indirectly acquired a 15% stake in the cryptocurrency exchange Thousand Whales Technology (BVI). Last year, it provided HKD 23.95 billion to invest in EXIO Group, the first batch of licensed virtual asset trading platforms of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. (Source: PANews)