A Blockchain-Driven Supply Chain Finance Application for Auto Retail Industry

Area of Science:

• Supply Chain Management
• Financial Technology (FinTech)
• Blockchain Technology

Background:

• Traditional supply chain finance (SCF) faces challenges including inefficiency, lack of transparency, and high costs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
• The auto retail industry in China presents specific pain points within its supply chain finance operations.
• Blockchain technology offers inherent trust mechanisms and security features applicable to financial transactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate BCautoSCF, a novel blockchain-driven platform for supply chain finance in the auto retail industry.
• To address the identified pain points in traditional SCF by leveraging blockchain and smart contracts.
• To develop an efficient and reliable financing solution for SMEs in the auto retail sector.

Main Methods:

• Development of a blockchain-driven platform (BCautoSCF) integrating smart contracts for automating workflows.
• Implementation of a trust mechanism inherent to blockchain for transparent and traceable business operations.
• Analysis of the platform's adoption and transaction data within the Chinese auto retail market.

Main Results:

• BCautoSCF has been successfully established as a reliable and efficient financing platform for the auto retail industry.
• The platform currently serves over 600 active enterprise users, including auto retailers, asset exchange platforms, fund providers, and logistics services across 21 provinces.
• As of October 2019, 3296 financing transactions totaling ¥566,784,802.18 have been successfully completed.

Conclusions:

• BCautoSCF demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of blockchain technology in revolutionizing supply chain finance.
• The platform successfully reduces financing costs and accelerates cash flows for SMEs in the auto retail industry.
• Future work will focus on full automation of SCF workflows using smart contracts to further enhance transaction efficiency.