Six million blockchain invoices issued by Shenzhen

It is truly remarkable what Shenzhen has been able to accomplish in just one year. The metropolitan city in Southern China turned to blockchain technology to provide and process invoices a year ago, and has already seen over six million invoices processed using the technology.

According to the tax bureau in Shenzhen, the agency has issued approximately 44,000 invoices per day. This totaled nearly 4 billion yuan ($554 million) and transactions that covered 113 sectors. This is a remarkable number considering that only 5300 companies in the city have registered to use the blockchain invoices.

Shenzhen became the first city in the province of Guangdong and the first within the economic special zone in China to use blockchain-based technology to create invoices. This began in August of last year when invoices were first issued to local restaurants within the city.

This technology was built by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, who is the developer of the WeChat social media platform, made in conjunction with the tax bureau itself.

Since implementing the technology, a larger number of companies within the city are beginning to use the blockchain-based invoice system. This includes businesses in finance, catering and hospitality, retailing, and much more. In fact, in March of this year, it was reported that the city issued the first invoice for a subway ticket using the blockchain technology platform.

Tencent had already been collaborating with the city on a blockchain-based technology to fight tax fraud within the city. Working with the Shenzhen Municipal Office of the State Administration of Taxation the tech giant set up a system that was able to tackle potential tax fraud issues.

In partnering with the city, Tencent was looking to create a host of “technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and big data in tax management and electronic invoices, risk diagnosis and early warning, tax service optimization, taxation policy and system knowledge map construction and other areas of exploration solutions, leveraging scientific and technological innovation to fully tap and empower tax scenarios, and promote tax reform and innovation.”

With such an ambitious plan, it is expected that this will not be the last platform created by Tencent made in collaboration with an agency of the government in Shenzhen. Expansion into other areas with the invoice platform as well as providing additional services related to taxation are likely to be the next step in advancing this partnership.