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 and a slowdown in demand for consumer credit taking effect in combination, multiple consumer-loan assistance platforms have experienced year-on-year declines in both revenue and loan-disbursement scale, along with a sharp drop in net profit. Some assistance platforms have been looking for second growth curves such as “going global” and investing in the “crypto trading circle.” The new lending regulations also set forth management requirements for assistance institutions, such as a “whitelist system,” and in practice have drawn clear compliance red lines for the online consumer-loan assistance industry.

It is reported that on the eve of this year’s “3·15” International Consumer Rights Day, the National Financial Regulatory Administration held talks with relevant executives of 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 2,395,000,000 to invest in EXIO Group, the first batch of licensed virtual asset trading platforms under the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. (Source: PANews)