China: Shenzhen Issues Country’s First Subway Electronic Invoices Backed With Blockchain

China's first blockchain-based electronic invoice for a subway ride was issued at the Futian Station of the Shenzhen Metro, local finance publication Securities Daily reports on March 18.

Shenzhen is the first economic special zone in China. The e-invoice function is the jointly developed project of the Shenzhen Municipal Taxation Bureau and Chinese tech giant Tencent, which provided the blockchain technology back-up through its 1 billion user social media platform WeChat.   

As the publication states, after the end of each trip, the Shenzhen Metro passenger code can be seen on the WeChat Payment voucher page. It also underlines that as of March 15, 2019, the Shenzhen City Blockchain electronic invoicing system has issued more than one million electronic invoices backed with blockchain tech, with the total invoices amounting up to 1.33 billion yuan (around $200 million).

The article states that the blockchain electronic invoice system for subway passengers, once launched, is expected to record 170,000 online self-service invoices a day.

The application of the Shenzhen Metro is the first step in the implementation of blockchain-backed e-invoicing that will affect all public transport system including “taxis, airport buses and other traffic scenes simultaneously with on-line blockchain electronic invoicing functions.”

As Cointelegraph reported on Dec. 12, the Shenzhen Municipal Taxation Bureau and Tencent announced that they had successfully linked a blockchain invoice system with the WeChat payment platform.

Last month, SUBE (Sistema Único de Boleto Electrónico), the Argentinian state public transport card, partnered with Bitex, which provides blockchain-driven financial services to businesses to provide the payments’ ability by Bitcoin (BTC), as Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 9.