Blockchain to play a key role in financing China’s SMEs

Dianrong.com, one of China’s largest peer-to-peer (P2P) lending companies, has partnered with Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group to expand supply chain finance on the mainland.

The two firms said they would provide a way of serving the country’s 40 million underfunded small businesses.

Soul Htite, chief executive of Dianrong, said on Tuesday that the new platform, Chained Finance, aimed to revolutionise China’s finance sector, and is likely to create a new online marketplace based on blockchain, the technology behind the digital currency bitcoin.

“Blockchain is revolutionising the finance industry and offers seamless solutions to any company operating and financing complicated supply chains,” Htite, a co-founder of the American P2P company Lending Club, said in a statement.

In a written reply to queries from the South China Morning Post, Htite said he believed blockchain technology held the key to the successful operation of mainland banks as it helped them save costs, assess credibility and find suitable clients amid government reforms designed to expand financing services to small businesses and individuals.

The two companies wouldn’t disclose their targeted business volume, adding that they were discussing details with several potential investors in the platform.