Request is a decentralized network built on the Ethereum network, allowing anyone, anywhere to initiate payment requests and provide secure payment methods to recipients. All data is stored in a decentralized true ledger, creating a financial platform for asset invoicing, accounting, auditing, and payment standards. Its a financial platform for enterprise-level payment and financial auditing based on cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks.

1. Project Introduction

Request is a decentralized network that allows anyone to request payments (Request invoices) and enables recipients to pay securely. All information is stored in a decentralized ledger. This will bring cheaper, simpler, and more secure payment methods with significant potential for automation.

Project Features

Universality: Request is designed to support 100% of global transactions, regardless of currency, law, or language. Request is built to last.
Intelligence: Unlike existing standard accounting ledgers, Request is at the source of transactions and integrates a computerized transaction code while managing various payment terms.

Use Cases

1. B2B Invoices
Billions of invoices are exchanged between companies each year, with most still sent as physical documents or via email, which need to be duplicated for record-keeping. This leads to numerous errors, especially when dealing with prepayment rules and tax conditions.

With Request, companies can share these invoices directly through the ledger; there’s no need to duplicate invoices, and accounting systems can operate immediately with instant updates. Companies awaiting payment will instantly notice delays, but as the invoice payment system evolves, such occurrences will diminish. Companies can choose the most suitable date to make payments upon receiving a request.

2. Online Payments
For example, you need to provide credit/debit card details to shop on Amazon, exposing sensitive information. Alternatively, you can opt for Request during payment, protecting your data. Amazon posts a request on the Request network, which your account detects and confirms for payment. Such transactions have minimal costs and do not expose payment information. By providing verification before payment, this method also helps avoid hidden fees often associated with credit/debit card payments. Request truly empowers people to control their payments.

Compared to current systems, Request offers the following advantages:
• Security: No sharing of payment information, eliminating risks of interception or theft of banking details.
• Simplicity: One-click payments without the possibility of manual input errors.
• Low Cost: No involvement of third parties like Paypal, Bitpay, or Stripe, which typically charge 1%-7% of the transaction amount as fees. Request reduces these costs.

Task Automation: Accounting, Auditing, Expenses

Accounting:
Request can automate accounting processes in real-time, reducing costs and providing better, faster financial management services with more information.

Auditing:
A significant benefit of Request is improving the efficiency of such audits. There is considerable room for optimization in the digitization of accounting systems and company statuses.

With blockchain technology, companies can keep accounts in a decentralized, confidential, shareable database without needing to retain internal accounts or publish annual reports after annual audits. All entries will be registered, preventing backdating and fraud. Annual adjustments will be more credible, and most importantly, these benefits will act in real-time on companies. Shareholders and external entities can access information in real-time. Audit costs will plummet, and accounting entries will no longer require repetitive manual checks. Finally, when customers and suppliers join the system using crypto addresses, the authenticity of financial statements will never be questioned.

Request is a distributed registry and source of confidence, eventually enabling real-time “smart auditing.” It includes all purchases and sales by the company. People can link procurement accounts to suppliers, payments, and bank accounts on the blockchain, unlike traditional double-entry accounting systems where these accounts are viewed separately. The system provides traceability, stability, and authenticity.

Expenses:
Employees and businesses can easily share expense reports through Request, avoiding misunderstandings or version inconsistencies. Employees can submit reimbursement claims in real-time and receive payouts upon manager approval.

Business Logic and Trade Law: Governments and Taxes

Governments require companies to submit all transaction records, which can lead to deliberate manipulation or creation of erroneous data. Request allows governments to view specific real-time transactions. Additionally, modules can be developed to automatically collect VAT, for example, redirecting payments made across borders.

Simplifying Business Tools: Factoring, Escrow

Request will enable businesses or individuals to easily access escrow or factoring tools. It allows for one-click payments upon delivery of goods or collection of apartment deposits without using landlords’ accounts.

Escrow can be automated using oracles. For factoring, companies will use the best credit rating systems: "on-chain" reputation. Assigning unique fingerprints to each invoice and publishing them on the blockchain prevents duplicate invoicing, as an invoice can only be published once on the blockchain. Companies can cancel existing requests and replace them with factoring requests through a smart contract.

Institutional Transparency:
Institutional (government, municipal halls, associations) budget transparency is on the agendas of OECD and World Bank. It aids:
• Accountability: Clarity on how funds are spent is necessary, and public figures and officials must be accountable for efficiency.
• Integrity: Maintaining transparency is the best policy, avoiding corruption and ensuring proper use of public funds.
• Inclusiveness: Transparency facilitates inclusive and comprehensive budget policy discussions.
• Trust: We are in an era of open-source projects and collaboration, and transparency fosters a trusting society where people can freely express opinions about the direction of public funds.
• Quality: Like code reviews, budget reviews identify waste, misuse, and provide insights into achieving broader impact more quickly.
Request proposes a framework that allows institutions to easily achieve transparency by publicly posting accounts for anyone to audit. As the framework gains popularity, more tools will be developed (for example, a dashboard for expenses in your city could be developed within this framework).

IoT and Smart Contracts:
One of the most challenging tasks in the coming years is enabling interactions between objects, machines, and artificial intelligence, along with automatic negotiation and definition of payment terms. They require a payment framework to help define the reasons and conditions of transactions.

This is akin to an autonomous car ordering a new wheel from a virtual garage, paying a 10% deposit, and the remaining 90% upon delivery. Such transparency can be applied to other industries and help trace the origin of certain products.

Technical Overview

Three-Layer Ecosystem:

Core Layer
The first layer manages distributed ledger consensus and state transitions. It stores basic smart contracts, allowing users to create different entities and payment requests. It is also used to detect payment completion times. The core layer is based on immutability (information never disappears), openness of the system (relevant information is available to all stakeholders), and intelligence (the system "discovers" invoice rules and "knows"). The core layer is placed on the Ethereum network. Other currencies use Oracles for automatic payment detection. The only transmission cost for this layer is for information storage.

Extension Layer
Most payment requests go beyond the basic smart contracts retained in the core layer. This layer allows for special features that may not even exist yet. One of the best examples is the possibility of "continuous billing." However, this layer can be charged. Fees for each extension are paid to token holders. Fees will decrease over time to discourage alternative systems and remain competitive. Extension costs are forecasted to be 0.1% to 0.5%, sufficient to finance a network processing $5 billion daily. This layer is 100% open, and anyone can create their own extensions.

Application Layer
This layer is placed outside the blockchain. Users can connect multiple systems from different companies to the Request Network and create requests or access relevant data. Accounting, taxes, auditing, collections, payment systems, and more can connect. Once payment systems connect to the Request Network (Coinbase, Mycellium, Bank of America), they will be able to access users invoices and propose instant payments. The Request Network team will also develop applications, including APIs and interfaces for creating and evaluating. The application layer will also feature a reputation system designed to protect users from bad payers and phishing attacks.

2. Commentary

Request Network is a distributed platform that allows anyone to request peer-to-peer payments. Its goal is to replace payment systems like PayPal and provide advanced payment conditions to everyone.

Related Links:

https://request.network/en/
http://www.qukuaiwang.com.cn/szhb/2530.html###
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2224943.0