Chinese P2P lending giant opts for blockchain future

Distributed Ledger Technology certainly has its adherents but it seems this fintech unicorn believes it could be useful in the lending market.

Lufax, the Chinese P2P lending giant, is exploring moving all of its loan assets over to a system underpinned by blockchain technology.

Amid a bit of crackdown on the P2P lending market from regulators in China, which is said to be $120bn in size, many industry observers believe a huge consolidation is underway.

Hundreds of P2P lenders in China are said to have collapsed in 2018 while their investors have even taken to the streets to protest to authorities.

Now, in an apparent bid to shore up confidence in the model Lufax, which also offers a suite of fintech services to consumers is moving its entire peer-to-peer (P2P) lending portfolio, valued at “tens of billions US dollars”, to a blockchain, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.

Quoting the Lufax CEO Greg Gibb, the newspaper said many platforms will likely disappear in the short term because Chinese P2P lending’s not transparent enough. But he thinks blockchain could solve this problem.

“If we could put all the contract terms between a borrower and lender on the blockchain ledger, then these [become] unalterable,” Gibb said .

Gibb says thar Lufax's blockchain use will centre on updating client documentation.