Businesses using Fuse Network can now use Request’s compliance-ready invoicing tool, saving hundreds of hours annually by automating invoice creation and payment.
Barriers to corporate crypto adoption
Blockchain networks and cryptocurrencies provide users with powerful platforms for making fast, low-cost payments. However, using them in their daily operations presents accounting and compliance challenges for businesses who have to be audited.
Unlike individuals, companies must meticulously document the payments they make and receive, and accurately reflect them in their accounts. Manually generating and processing invoicing and accounting operations with crypto payments is not only incredibly time-consuming, but also highly prone to potentially expensive errors, and compliance failures.
Additionally, accounting standards may require businesses to denominate payment records in fiat currencies, as most countries, except El Salvador, do not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender. This presents the problem of having to determine the prices of cryptocurrencies in fiat at the point of payment, which is challenging given the sharp fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices.
The present difficulties with processing payments and bookkeeping in crypto discourage businesses from adopting cryptocurrencies, forcing many to forgo the benefits which could have been gained from improved treasury management and cheaper payments.
Fortunately, the solutions developed by the Request Network project solves many of these challenges.
Streamlining payment processing on multiple blockchains
Request Network has become one of the most popular platforms for crypto companies to make and receive payments. To date the Request Invoicing app has processed over US$100 million in transactions. Today, more than 500 businesses are already using Request Invoicing, including a number of high-profile DeFi companies like Polygon, AAVE, and MakerDAO.
Request Network’s Invoicing app allows users to easily generate or pay an invoice in over 24 different cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, and eight different fiat currencies. While the payment execution always takes place in a cryptocurrency, invoices can be automatically denominated in fiat currencies, such as USD, or EUR, with the use of Chainlink’s price feed oracles. The invoices are powered by the core Request smart contracts, which are created in each of the supported blockchains.
The key advantage of Request invoices is that they are stored, settled and tracked in a decentralized manner. Each invoice’s key information such as the date of issue, the due date, the payment amount and its processing status are currently stored on the xDAI blockchain, while other invoice data is stored on IPFS. This makes it easy for issuers to track the status of an invoice which was issued, and for the counterparties to prove the payment.
Invoicing with Request also provides a far easier, and less error-prone way to manage and account for crypto payments to multiple counterparties. The InvoiceMe feature allows companies to send pre-filled invoice templates containing the correct business information to their suppliers, helping companies reduce errors and save time. The integration with Gnosis Safe enables Request Invoicing users to make multiple payments in batches, even if they are denominated in different cryptocurrencies.
In addition to the core invoicing functions already available, Request Network plans to introduce more advanced features in the pipeline such as escrow, partial payments, and credit scoring. Request also has plans to introduce “smart invoices” which can be programmed, for instance, to automatically add a late payment fee to the amount due if the invoice has not been paid on time, eliminating the need to send another invoice to the counterparty.
How Fuse integrates Request
The integration of Request Network’s invoicing tool enables anyone to issue and pay against invoices by sending payments on the Fuse Network. Currently, only invoices denominated and payable in FUSE tokens are supported.
To send an invoice using Request on Fuse, a user just needs to create an account for their business on the Request Invoicing app. Users can send pre-filled invoices via email to a counterparty. Once the invoice is generated, the counterparty receives an email with the link to the invoice.
The counterparty can pay against the invoice by clicking on the link in the invoice email and sending the required amount in FUSE to the Fuse address specified in the invoice. This is also done through the Request Invoicing app by connecting a supported wallet (in the case of Fuse, Metamask). Currently, invoice payment via Request on Fuse involves no fees beyond the normal network transaction fee.
Future work to deepen the Request integration will include expanding the range of supported tokens on Fuse Network to cover other ERC20-compliant tokens, and the implementation of other Request features such as batch payments. Plans are also underway to create a Chainlink price feed for the FUSE token to enable fiat-denominated transactions settled in FUSE.
The Fuse Foundation team encourages projects within the Fuse ecosystem to enjoy the seamless experience of managing their payments, invoicing, and book-keeping using Request Invoicing. The Fuse Foundation itself will also be using Request Invoicing for managing all its payments to community members, including grants, and bounties.
“We are delighted to work with Fuse Network to allow projects in the ecosystem to use Request Invoicing to process their daily invoicing and payments using crypto“, said Christophe Fonteneau, Head of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at Request Network.
About Request
Request (REQ) is a blockchain based suite of financial applications dedicated to crypto first companies. Its first product, Request Invoicing, allows anyone from freelancers to small businesses and organizations to create, store and access invoices and receipts in a universal, decentralized network. Users can easily send professional, secured, compliant invoices and receive payments in traditional currencies like USD and EUR — or digital currencies such as USDC, DAI and USDT among many others in the list.
To learn more about Request, visit Request.Finance
About Fuse
Fuse Network (Fuse) is a decentralized public blockchain and platform providing communities, businesses and users with a powerful open-source mobile-first infrastructure for crypto payments and decentralized finance (DeFi). Aiming at genuine mass adoption, Fuse enables smooth creation of tokens and payment-focused communities around them. It also makes DeFi tools easily accessible on mobile. Major ecosystem projects on Fuse include GoodDollar, Kolektivo, Comunitaria and The Wellbeing Protocol.
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