In a matter of one year, as many as six million invoices have been issued using blockchain-based platform by Shenzhen, a major Chinese city. After the program was initiated in August 2018, over 5,300 domestic firms in 113 sectors have participated in Shenzhen’s blockchain invoice program so far.
In this regard, Shenzhen Municipal Taxation Bureau has stated that the average number of invoices issued daily has been calculated to be 44,000 and the total value of invoices was valued to be 3.90 billion Chinese yuan ($553 million). Shenzhen, which is a city in Guangdong province, is China’s first economic special zone.
A restaurant in the city issued its first blockchain based invoice on August 10, 2018. The blockchain invoice system was built by Chinese internet enterprise Tencent, the creator of social media platform WeChat, in association with the tax bureau of Shenzhen.
Since the venture was initiated, the use of blockchain based system to issue invoices has been gaining steady momentum in a number of sectors in Shenzhen such as finance, catering and hospitality, and retailing.
In March 2019, Shenzhen issued a subway ticket using a blockchain system. Of late, London-based Standard Chartered bank successfully finished its first ever blockchain powered supply chain funding trade within Digital Guangdong venture, which is a joint collaboration between China Unicom, Tencent, China Mobile and China Telecom.
