Tencent seeks to build blockchain-based supply chain finance platform

Tencent Financial Technology (Tencent FiT) is seeking to build a blockchain-based open supply chain finance service platform, China Daily reported.

Established in September 2015, Tencent FiT is a division of Tencent that provides online and mobile financial transaction services to businesses and individuals worldwide through the WeChat Wallet and other systems backed by the Tenpay online payment service.

"We want to build WeChain as a supply chain finance service platform based on blockchain technology," said Aaron Cai, general business manager of Tencent Blockchain. "The platform will empower medium and small-sized enterprises, helping them to get out of the financing predicament."

The company is already making efforts towards the realization of this goal. Cai said that Tencent has collaborated with Linklogis, a Chinese supply chain finance firm, to develop the platform. Tencent has also participated in LinkLogis’ Series B and Series C funding rounds.

"Different from the traditional supply chain finance, the new platform incorporating blockchain could spread a core enterprise's good credit to each level of the industrial chain, which is extremely beneficial for small and middle-sized enterprises," said Ji Kun, Managing Director of Linklogis.

Last year, Tencent published a white paper that detailed its plans to build a suite of blockchain services. In August 2018, the tech giant trialed a feature on the WeChat app that used blockchain technology for reimbursement of expenses for company employees.