A blockchain invoice is a type of electronic invoice issued using blockchain technology, which is significantly different from traditional invoices. Traditional invoices, whether paper or electronic, require companies to purchase relevant royalty control equipment or entrust a third party to issue invoices.

However, this approach has several drawbacks. First, data is not shared because each company uses its own platform, resulting in numerous and complex systems. This creates significant obstacles to data sharing and circulation, making it difficult to track and verify each invoice, leading to lengthy reimbursement cycles and cumbersome processes.

Second, the lack of data sharing leads to issues such as invoice fraud or duplicate reimbursements. Traditional invoices rely on tax bureau-allocated number segments and electronic seals for anti-counterfeiting. Additionally, paperless reimbursement in bulk online verification systems is hard to achieve quickly, resulting in serious problems like duplicate reimbursements and fake invoices.

Third, setting up an invoice system also requires financial investment, which imposes a considerable burden on small and micro enterprises.
Blockchain invoices, on the other hand, are different. The government has built an invoice system using blockchain technology, allowing participants to join without needing to establish trust relationships. Small and micro enterprises can issue invoices without purchasing equipment, saving hardware costs.

Moreover, blockchain invoices address the root problems of anti-counterfeiting and reimbursement difficulties. In traditional invoice systems, the reimbursement process involves: the user completes a purchase → a paper invoice is issued → the user submits for reimbursement → the system queries information → reimbursement is completed. Most of these steps are done offline, making it very difficult to trace the source, authenticity, and accounting information of invoices. Blockchain invoices, however, record all consumption data in the blockchain system. As soon as you make a purchase, the system automatically generates the corresponding invoice, which you can retrieve via WeChat. This skips all offline steps, fundamentally solving the problems of anti-counterfeiting and reimbursement difficulties.

Additionally, because blockchain technology is used, blockchain invoices enable data sharing, traceability, and immutability. This makes it easy to query the source and accounting information of each invoice, significantly shortening the review and reimbursement cycle. Therefore, blockchain invoices are currently a major real-world application of blockchain technology.

The implementation of blockchain invoices began as early as 2018 when Tencent launched a pilot program in Shenzhen. By the first half of this year, nearly 20,000 enterprises had registered, issuing over 25 million invoices with a cumulative amount of 25.9 billion yuan. It can be said that this has truly solved the problem of difficult reimbursements.

This technology is also being steadily promoted nationwide. It is believed that soon, it will truly become a part of our daily lives. Let’s look forward to it together~